


Red Strings and Overused Space

by JustAnotherStarChild



Category: Ouran High School Host Club - All Media Types
Genre: Anxiety Disorder, Bisexual Female Character, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Kinda, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Red String of Fate, Reincarnation, Slow Burn, Slow To Update, This was a joke how did this story happen, Yumiko's anxious like all the time but covers it up with sarcasm and exhaustion, how do tags work?????, main character is SUPER bi and will probably never stop being flustered by pretty girls, now here we are
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-10-05 06:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 25,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17319437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAnotherStarChild/pseuds/JustAnotherStarChild
Summary: The red string that had been limp since the day she was reborn suddenly glowed and curled with life. The two of them were oblivious to the shocked stares around them as Yumiko stared at the boy in horror. In her arms and on the other side of her red string was Takashi Morinozuka. [In which a girl is reincarnated and tries to ignore the red string that ties her to the silent host]





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was a joke about Mori falling for a girl that could hold him in her big buff arms but now I'm committed and kinda in love with it.

For some odd reason, the string around her pinky finger felt tighter. Nothing painful because according to Grandpa it probably wasn't possible for the string to physically hurt someone unless you  _tried_  to hurt someone or yourself. But even still, the string was getting tighter and sometimes Yumiko swore it was tugging itself gently, trying to pull her out of the room and towards the person who was at the other end. Wherever they were.

Even now, late at night in the middle of the living room, Yumiko was hyper-aware of the pathetic and dull looking string that was laying flat along the table. Occasionally she'd flick her finger and watch it slap back onto the table, looking as sad and pathetic as it always did. The bunny ear knot around her finger barely moved, somehow looking sadder than normal.

Her other hand was scratching at the bandage on her cheek. The little cut that had gotten there would no doubt be fully healed by tomorrow, but keeping on the bandage kept Yumiko from scratching and picking at it. A terrible habit she had picked up from her terrible best friend. The bastard…

"It could be a sign," an old voice said from right across the table before the owner took a long sip of his hot tea and ended with a satisfied sigh. Grandfathers eyes were closed, as they always were ( _anime logic_  Yumiko had always figured) but his head was still tilted in her direction as he said, "Maybe it's telling you it's almost time."

Yumiko looked up, a single eyebrow raised before looking back down on the string. It was late and she didn't want to start any bickering between her and Gramps.

"I'm serious!" Grandfather said, placing his tea down, "Considering the school you're going to, maybe it's time that string of yours will start to, well, not look like that...Maybe it's a sign of who you'll be meeting soon."

Yumiko puffed out her cheeks and pouted, glaring at the limp string that had been on her finger since she'd been born. An anomaly for her grandfather who's string, despite being in a... _very_ similar situation Yumiko is, didn't appear until he met Grandma.

That thought made Yumiko glance up to the only other string in the room. It wasn't nearly as pathetic looking as her's, it still glowed and floated above the ground which was many steps above Yumiko. But it glowed a faded red and at times it only just  _barely_ stayed off the ground as it slowly curled in on itself. (It was sad because Yumiko could remember all the times when Gran and Gramps would do something as simple as sit next to each other and the string between them would be painful to look at because of how  _bright_ it was as it curled and swam through the air several feet above the ground)

Yumiko huffed, before placing her chin in the palm of her hand and leaned her elbow against the table. "And considering the school I'm going to what makes you think that's a good thing?"

Grandfather took a loud sip of his tea and didn't answer.

Yumiko's eyebrows scrunched up, wincing at the loud and obnoxious sound before she sent an exasperated look towards her closest family member. He met her look with a raised eyebrow.

They stared at each other (or more like Yumiko stared while Grandfather just had his head tilted in her direction) for a moment before Grandfather spoke.

"Go back to bed Yumiko," he said as he got up with his now empty teacup. "You're opening ceremony is tomorrow."

Yumiko scrunched up her face again, sticking her tongue out as she thought about how early she'd have to wake up tomorrow. Not just to get ready, but to make sure a certain bastard was ready for his own opening ceremony. Kuranosuke definitely owed her a free ride to school for what she was doing.

A small chuckle escaped the older man as he looked back at his oldest granddaughter who was to busy looking disgusted to get back up.

"Ouran Academy is an incredible school to be attending. You should be proud of getting the scholarship."

He got a loud groan as a response.

* * *

The loud roar of a motorcycle so early on in the morning was going to get really old really fast. The heavy helmet that was very close to being too small was just another annoying factor.

But Yumiko would sooner become a millionaire before she let Kuranosuke or herself get on his bike without one.

It was a surprisingly easy morning. The entire Yamamoto family was up early to eat breakfast and send the oldest out with multiple 'good lucks' and 'we're so proud's. Surprisingly enough her overly loving mother had only burst into tears twice before Yumiko had managed to slip out of her father's tight hugs. Grandfather had ruffled her already messy hair and poked fun at her dark eyebags before saying he and Mother would cook a big meal tonight (or at least bigger than normal). Kujo, being the stoic little sister that she always was, had buried her emotions under a straight face and gave her sister a tight hug with a monotone 'have a good day at school'. It was enough for Yumiko who had already heard Kujo brag to one of her friends over the phone about her 'cool older sister' attending Ouran.

It was when she got to Kuranosuke's that trouble started.

As always many men met her at the gate door, many greetings and good mornings were given and some of the more emotional men gave a teary-eyed congratulations about what kind of school she had managed to get into. ( _"To think the young Lord and his best friend will be going to such high class schools!"_ one of them said.) She waved and smiled at a few more that were inside the big house before walking into her friends room. Of course the idiot wasn't in the least bit prepared, still asleep in his bed when she stormed in with his school uniform buried somewhere in his closet.

She had punched him in his (still very bruised from the same fight that had gotten her that cut on her cheek) ribs and immediately had him yelling at her, causing her to scream back and before the two knew it they were set back five minutes as the idiot tried to start a fight while she tried to wrestle him out of bed.

It took twenty minutes before they walked out of the estate, both a little bruised under their clothes. Many men lined up to say goodbye and wish Kura a good day at school and Yumiko wanted to laugh when one of them wished the same to her. (The Ouran universe had such kind gang members!)

"Is it even legal for you to be driving this?" She asked him when he threw a helmet at her, glancing at the bike and the road a few times.

"You wanna walk to school?" Kuranosuke asked a raised eyebrow on his face and a wild smirk at the fact that he got to drive so early. Though Yumiko just thought it was because he was excited to roll up to two rich kid schools on a motorcycle, making sure he stuck out against the numerous limos that would be in their way.

"Mm, not particularly," She said as she sat down behind him, "Would make up for our morning jogs though."

The bad joke actually managed to make the taller boy throw his head back and laugh.

It was due to the various times Kuranosuke went above the speed limit (Yumiko  _screamed_ in his ear everytime she realized and he started to slow down) that they managed to show up at her school earlier than expected. Kura, ever the attention craving bastard, took every chance he got to slip past limos and flaunt his 'definitely not Ouran' uniform and her 'obviously can't afford the uniform' uniform.

He parked the bike behind a limo that was parked in front of the school gate. Multiple students turned to stare and whisper and Yumiko got the feeling she just might have a few rumors spread about her before the school year officially started.

( _"Rich brats are always looking for somethin' interestin' to gossip about,"_ Kuranosuke had said over the phone, it was around the time she was starting to seriously consider Ouran as a school despite the many...risks it had.  _"You're an overweight, under average lookin' girl who can lift grown men. They're gonna have a field day with you if ya let them."_  Yumiko scolded him at the time because he was technically being a 'rich brat' himself even if the money was because of some not so great reasons)

She hopped off the bike, ignoring the many stares she was getting, and threw the helmet over her shoulder. Kura caught it of course, and the two spent a few moments simply staring at each other even if Kuro kept his helmet on.

This was the first time the pair of friends would be attending different schools. (And wow, weren't the two of them freaked out by it)

"...Hit me up if someone tries to start shit," Was all Kuranosuke said, and Yumiko didn't say anything about the fact that just last week she had been up on her phone at 3 AM comforting the boy over the phone as he sobbed about being in different schools (granted the idiot had gotten himself drunk but she almost had to sneak out because of just how loud his wailing was getting).

"Same goes for you," Yumiko said with a smile before she slugged him on the arm. Yumiko wouldn't say it but she was proud of her friend. Kenran academy was a pretty high-class school. Even if it was guaranteed he would be spending the next three years in D class.

He punched her right back and drove off. She started walking through the school's gates, trying her hardest not to react to some of the bits and pieces of whispers she heard. She was  _so_ grateful that she woke up with the cut on her face fully healed and no longer need a bandage.

At some point, the school had impressed her. (It still did but for different reasons) Not only was it the very school from her last life's guilty pleasure, but it was an absolutely  _beautiful_ school. She wouldn't be surprised if the gates were made with actual gold, or if the columns she had seen as she walked the school were made of marble. Maybe later on in her education, she would make fun of its pink coloring and  _far_ too big grounds but for a person who had always been middle class (sometimes teetering towards lower in her last life) attending such a high-class school gave her an immense amount of pride.

Yumiko tried to ignore the ball of anxiety forming in her gut, many 'what if's already started to form in the back of her mind. ( _What if something goes wrong? What could go wrong? What if what if what if_ ) Instead, she focused on the string that suddenly got tighter as she walked in through the school door. It was still limp, pathetic, and dull but it was clearly leading inside.

Seems what Grandfather said just might be right.

She even eyed the many other students who unknowingly had red strings themselves. Some were as dull as her grandfathers (poor guys/gals) and some that were glowing red and seemed to bounce with life (lucky bastards).

Yumiko took a few steps inside class 1-A and was immediately frozen when she made eye contact with a tall boy (an annoyingly familiar and handsome looking taller boy) and with a glance to the person next to him she saw a shorter one(an annoyingly familiar and absolutely  _adorable_  shorter boy). Both of them were on other side of the class near the windows.

The taller one held a stoic expression and was definitely handsome (and something in the back of Yumiko's head told her this boy would only get taller) while the shorter one looked...cute. And young. Way too young to be in high school.

Yumiko knew those faces. At one point in her preteens, she spent hard-earned allowance money so she could buy manga  _just because of those two faces_.

' _OH GOD IS THAT-? ARE THOSE TWO-? OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT OH_ _ **SHIT**_ -!'

They stared at each other for only a second before she walked towards the very back of the class and away from the two. Yumiko took a little bit of pride at just how straight-faced she kept despite the - ' _OH FUCK IT IS OH FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK AH SHIT I NEVER PLANNED TO BE_ _ **RIGHT**_ _FUCK WHAT DO I DO WHAT DO I DO WHAT DO I DO_ ' - going on in her head.

"Is this seat taken?" Yumiko asked a pretty girl with a short braid. Yumiko pointed at the seat that was in the very back row but only one seat away from being the very corner. The other girl had beaten her to it.

The girl eyed her, looking her up and down. (Yumiko tried not to be self-conscious about her freckled and blotchy red face or her messy hair that only went to her shoulders or her bad eye bags from late night studying or her big body from eating too much and working out too hard or her large but cheap sweater to substitute an actual uniform or or or or)

"G-go ahead," the girl said in an adorably quiet voice that made Yumiko's heart do a funny dance. Oh no she was cute.

She sat down with only a single glance at the duo, mentally comparing how they looked now compared to the old and slightly damaged manga she had originally seen them in a lifetime ago.

Yeah. Grandfather was definitely right.

' _Now what the fuck am I supposed to_ _ **do**_ _about it?_ '

* * *

Yumiko had just a little bit of pride over just how  _unnoticed_ she truly was. While there were definitely some strange rumors about the scholarship student and the mystery boy who always gave her a ride at school. (Kuranosuke nearly keeled over from laughing at some of the more ridiculous ones she absolutely  _had_ to tell him) She had actually managed to go pretty unnoticed.

She focused on her place in class (and felt just a  _little_ prideful at the fact that being in this class meant she was getting higher marks than Morinozuka and Haninozuka), made some acquaintances with the few people who talked to her, made a possibly  _genuine friend_ from the quiet girl she sat next to.

Her named turned out to be Chieko Koibuchi. She was lower in the class, both in grades and status and there were a few times when Yumiko worried she'd get transferred to class B. Chieko was a quiet yet surprisingly excitable girl that only seemed to talk in a hushed voice and was absolutely oblivious to the fact that she was adorable. Yumiko only occasionally felt a stab of jealousy over how pretty her friend would be if she put in just a tad bit of attention to herself or about the bright and curvy string that was on Chieko's little pinkie finger. Though surprisingly Chieko didn't seem to have that many friends.

Really the most interesting thing that had really happened so far in the year was when a group of boys from her class tried to get her to 'tutor' them. Although this 'tutoring' was really just the boys asking her to hang out in the library (which  _yes_  was definitely far too loud and far too big with far too many students constantly in it) as they all tried to get her to do their work them. They even 'flirted' to try and sweeten the deal and they actually gaped when she laughed in their faces. One boy's eyes went so wide and his mouth was gaped to the point in which he almost looked like a fish.

Maybe it was because of the total lack of clubs that were centered around 'boys with too much time on their hands entertaining girls with  _way_ too much time on their hands' that made attending Ouran academy was surprisingly...dull.

No that wasn't the right word. Yumiko was constantly too amazed at the school to find it dull. Chieko and her would spend many lunch periods in different parts of the school because Yumiko was too awed at the many large hallways and expensive looking sights of the school. Chieko blushed bright red when they sat by the fountain of a peeing child while Yumiko had trouble eating through her laughs  _because WOW this was a_ _ **high-class**_ _school with THAT on their grounds?_

Then there was the time they were nearly late for class because they had gotten lost in the rose maze and Chieko had to hold her back from just running straight through the large hedges and just deal with the many scratches and cuts she'd inevitably get.

The few times Chieko had gotten her to share some of her very big bentos ( _Thanks Mother it's not like I've said I wanted to lose weight since I was nine_ Yumiko always thought to herself whenever she saw them) for some of the high class lunch food she was always floored by the incredible taste.

But it just wasn't what she was expecting.

Maybe it was because she had spent the last ten years getting her hopes up too high but she was almost hoping for...well...for some Host Club adventures.

Not that she wanted to part of them!

No, she had spent enough time dealing with  _what if what if what if what if_ when she was on the fence about even attempting the school's exams. She didn't want to deal with any  _what if_ 's because she may have screwed up someone's (whether they be a host or friend of a host) love life.

Or family life in some of the host's cases (and she  _definitely_ didn't want to get involved with Tamaki's family drama, she could remember very little information about the entire situation much less how to fix it).

No, what Yumiko wanted to do was  _watch_.

She wanted to sit on the sidelines and giggle at the antics of the idiotic blonde and the little family he created for himself. Wanted to see just how identical the twins were and just how intimidating Kyoya really was. (There was a small part of her that wanted to see Haruhi and Tamaki and watch when their red string formed and see just how bright it would glow and see how much it would curl and bounce and move and and and)

While yeah, she had two future hosts in the same class as her it just wasn't the same. These were  _first year_ Takashi Morinozuka and Mitsukuni Haninozuka, way before the third years she knew them as. Way before they were the comedic seniors Yumiko knew they'd be.

Not to mention every time she saw them it just never felt...right? Real? Hmm, fake was definitely a word to use for Haninozuka-san at this time.

It was almost comical at times (and pitiful at others) watching as a boy that was still under 5 feet try to act like some kind of macho man. The real kicker was that he hadn't started acting like one until a few weeks into the year. Just enough time for him to earn the name as karate captain but also to be known as an adorable shota.

Haninozuka-san had already shown his adorable smile in class, and the girls of the school had already shown their love for the shota boy in blushing faces and adoring looks (and a few rumored confessions but hey, those were  _rumors_ ). The same could even be said for the taller future host as Yumiko already had an idea on just who would be showing up to the host club once it finally started.

Yumiko herself thought they were an adorable pair (maybe a bit more than adorable in Morinozuka's case...he'll be a host for a reason) but the memory of watching the two in the school's dojo (Chieko had dragged her to watch with other girls) always clung to the back of her mind. They were a cute pair, but also a  _deadly_  pair; and Yumiko had just spent too much of her late elementary and entire middle school years getting into fights to really forget about that fact...

* * *

It's not like she was surprised really, she  _knew_ this would be something that would happen. She knew since Grandpa had talked to her about Ouran Academy when she was five (Yumiko had an inkling that Grandpa had been testing her too see if she was like him, reincarnation and all). But there was a very big difference between watching it happen on the screen of her laptop and printed pages of a manga than watching it happen just a few feet in front of you.

"It's...almost unnatural..." Chieko said as the duo watched the small crowd of girls from a few tables.

Yumiko prodded at her bento as she heard the loud squeals of girls that were 'touched by his practice on self-control'. Poor Haninozuka himself seemed to be on the brink of tears as he eyed the sweets on the girl's plates.

"It's like watching a rabbit try and eat a bull..."Chieko had her chin leaning on her hand, watching in fascination as Haninozuka-san actually started to cut into the steak. A look of absolute despair on his face.

"There's no way he can finish that," Yumiko said in between bites of her own food, "He's too grossed out by that much meat."

"Exactly!" Chieko said as she stared in awe, stars forming in her green eyes, "It's amazing how he's forcing himself to push through despite how much he's suffering! It's so..."

Chieko started to rant about how determined Haninozuka was to change himself for his family name despite how much it's causing him unhappiness and even though Yumiko tried to pay attention her eyes just kept slipping to the string on her friend's pinkie. Still bright as ever but just a little less...alive? Curvy? Bouncy? One of those.

Yumiko started to tune back in when Chieko started to say words like 'moe' and 'adorable'. Her brows scrunched up as her friend started to rant about something very different from the 'manly man' persona Haninozuka was trying so hard for. Ah so that explains the string. (In the back of her mind Yumiko once again wondered just who was on the other side of her friends' string, especially since it was glowing so bright and often curled and bounced whenever her friend got lost in thought)

"...You're into loli boys?" It slipped out without her consent and Yumiko was starting to realize just how comfortable she was getting with her high-class friend.

Chieko choked on her words. Her face turned bright red at her friends' blunt tone and she scrambled to defend herself in the hushed tone she always used. "I-I-I don't-I mean I'm not like-it's not  _l-l-like that!_  Han-Haninozuka he's just-you see he's-I'm-oh d-dear," she covered her blushing face with her hands and continued to try and stutter an explanation. One that was being drowned out by Yumiko's laughing.

"He's very cute..." Chieko said finally, looking up at Yumiko with teary eyes and a red face and  _wow did she look adorable_.

Yumiko shoved that thought away before raising an eyebrow at her friend. "He's also the captain of the karate club...in his  _first year_ , Koibuchi-kun."

The blushing girl pushed her two pointer fingers together as she looked down at her lunch and sent occasional glances at the short boy. "I-I know that..."

Yumiko said nothing, only staring at the red string that was starting to straighten itself, not lowering and still twisting and moving and curving slightly, but much less enthusiastic as it always seemed to be. Ah. So Chieko had a crush…?

"If you join his fan club," Yumiko bluntly said as she picked up her thermos, "I won't judge but I'm not attending the meetings with you."

Chieko jumped, earning whiplash from how fast she looked at her friend before quickly raving her hands. She stuttered out a lot of 'I wouldn't' or 'I would never's and at one point Yumiko could have sworn she heard 'Even if I did I would  _never_  expect you to come with me'. So on and so on.

Yumiko glanced away from her blushing friend only once, and that was too stare at Haninozuka to see how he was doing with his steak. Terrible was the answer as the boy was still on the brink of tears as he suffered through eating the large steak. She sent another glance towards his cousin, straight-faced and all as he ate his own lunch. She was about to look away when something caught her eye.

It's surprising she hadn't noticed it before considering how far along they are in their second semester but there it was for all to see (well technically not  _all_  to see but she definitely should have noticed it). Maybe it simply got jumbled in the other strings that were around the school and despite how many times she's looked in their direction she simply didn't notice.

It was wrapped around his pinkie, dull and sad looking as it laid pathetically along the table and lead outside the cafeteria. It wasn't like the other dull ones who still at least had some kind of life to them as they managed to stay off the ground, this one was just...laying there. Pathetically. Yumiko had never seen another person's string looking so... _dead_? Nah, sad would be a better word.

She didn't really know what that means but aw man, poor Morinozuka.

"Ah, so you like Mori-san?" Chieko's voice was a whisper as she followed her friends gaze, both now looking at the tall future host.

Yumiko didn't react to the statement, she had gotten similar questions in middle school when she was caught staring at the strings of other students.

"No. He's definitely attractive though," Was the blunt answer as Yumiko went back to eating her bento, "But I'm the type of person that has to interact with a person before I can say I like them. Otherwise, that's just called infatuation."

Chieko pouted at the not so subtle jab at her before they switched topics. Lunch ended and class started and Yumiko stared at both her and Mori's red strings. Both were dull and laying flat on the ground and both leading outside the classroom. Poor guy.

* * *

Yumiko Yamamoto had long since gotten used to the fact that time was a very wonky thing. Now, this isn't to say that everything was going by too fast and before Yumiko knew it she was in her second year. In fact, it was the total opposite.

In her last life, Yumiko had spent most of her late childhood to late teens being an avid anime watcher and manga reader. Shoujo romcoms were a huge guilty pleasure that lasted all the way to her eventual early death.

Something she had learned from those many years of wasting hours reading or watching character after character fall in love was that time was inconsistent.  _Very_ inconsistent.

It has to be though. How else would someone explain the fact that a group of characters celebrated Halloween or Christmas or New Years three or four times a year? Or the fact that it took  _way_ more than a year for seniors to graduate?

While it had given her plenty of anxiety in the beginning, she had grown more or less used to it. Sometimes she'd wake up and what once was early spring and it had suddenly become winter and they were preparing for Christmas and then New Years. Sometimes they'd shoot forward and she went from celebrating Halloween to getting ready for Valentines Day and then White Day. Grandpa always gave her a heads up, casually mentioning any upcoming holidays at the breakfast table.

No one mentioned it. No one questioned it. There were maybe two times in her elementary school years and one year in middle school where it had just been a normal year.

It was annoying, don't get her wrong. Semesters restarted and even though the curriculum didn't repeat itself it was annoying going through two spring breaks and still bouncing between semesters of her first year.

Though at least she got to enjoy cherry blossoms nearly all year round. Sure their charm had dulled a bit since Yumiko was a kid, but the pretty color and the all around aesthetically pleasing sight of them falling had always made her smile. Maybe because it was a cliche anime trope but she loved walking around school grounds and seeing the wind blow the pretty pink petals float in the wind. When she was younger she'd play pretend and act like she was going to see some handsome guy or a pretty girl who would confess they liked her. It was cheesy as hell but there was a reason romance mangas were such a guilty pleasure (granted that was Yumiko's big secret that not even Kura had found out until middle school).

Anyway, time was inconsistent.

She went through Valentine Day twice, both times she had jokingly given Chieko chocolates in the shape of bunnies (got her sister to mold them in exchange for spending the weekend with her going to the movies to watch horror flicks) and got Kura a few slices of Mom's popular cake.

Then White Day twice - first time Kura had taken her out and they both got piercings on their left ear (Yumiko liked the look of the singular hoop...maybe she'd get more...hmm...) and then the next he shoved a girly white sweater in her hands. May seem cheap but the sweater was somehow too  _big_ for her meaning it was custom made. The bastard specially ordered her a cute girly sweater and she just a little in love with it. Imagine her surprise though when on the second White Day Chieko had shyly placed a small box of chocolates (clearly very expensive and Yumiko nearly puked out of anxiety when she had ripped the ribbon on the box) and inside were fancy assorted chocolates...in the shape of little bears.

"U-Uh….th-thanks for the chocolates…"Chieko had said in her quiet voice as a big blush covered her face and she pushed her pointer fingers together, "I-I wanted to g-give you a gift a-and...is it okay?"

Yumiko knew it was a platonic gift that Chieko had given out of love for their friendship. Yumiko knew that somewhere out there was Chieko's soul mate (who she had apparently already met even if she didn't love them yet) and that she had a huge crush on Mitsukuni. Yumiko knew that unlike herself, Chieko didn't have that type of feelings about girls.

So she crushed that little dance her heart did at the sight of Chieko's adorable face and smiled a huge gigantic smile and told Chieko she loved the gift before sharing a few chocolates with her. Chieko was a great friend.

Both holidays passed. Yumiko was in a hurry to start the third semester.

Instead, the school festival started.

And years from now, years away from Yumiko's boring and somewhat peaceful first year, Yumiko would look back and realize  _that_ is when things really started.


	2. Chapter 2

Her parent's red string was the most blinding thing she'd ever seen.

At the dinner table it was hard to look at her parents because of just how  _bright_ it was as it glowed around the two as they talked about their day or complemented one another on their cooking. It was always glowing, always curling and twisting and just circling around the two. When she was younger and could get away with staring at nothing, Yumiko would just gawk at the way a tiny string that no one but herself and Grandfather knew of and just be amazed at how it sometimes took up the entire room.

Her parents themselves were the exact definition of love.

From Yumiko's earliest memories her parents always seemed to be in some kind of honeymoon stage (and eventually Yumiko would learn that they had been married for nearly six years before she was born), and as she grew up they only got worse.

According to Grandfather, they had a love story that hopped out of shoujo manga. Delilah Yamamoto (formerly Delilah Jones) had only been to Japan to visit some penpal she had ever since she was a child. Haato Yamamoto was running late for his part-time job. They crashed into each other, literally, and the details get a bit iffy from there as they just  _kept_ meeting each other.

("It was love at first sight," Haato says with a big dopey grin on his as he looks at his wife with love in his eyes.

"After the first few times running into each other, I accidentally punched your father and gave him a black eye...He cracked jokes as I got him ice and by the end of it he got me to agree to go on a date with him...I've loved him ever since." Delilah says with a smile on her, a sack of flour over her shoulder, and she pats her daughter on the head.

"Haato came home with a grin on his face and that string on his finger," Grandfather says as he points to Yumiko's parents, too engrossed in their lovey dovey actions to look in their direction, "What's a father to do but help his stupid son with his soul mate?")

Yumiko grew up with her parent's gross flirting, lovey-dovey comments, and adoring looks passed between the two even when they knew anyone could be watching. They loved each other, loved their children, and loved their friends. (It was so different from her last life where everyone was distant and cold and heartless and just so... _unloving_? Uncaring? Unforgiving?)

Her parent's string, and even her grandparent's string, was always bright and always moving and wrapping around them. Even when they were arguing or having bad days it was bright and curling in on itself enough that it would make little hearts out of itself. They were in love. They were  _soulmates._

Yumiko was born with her red string, limp and dull and was always lying pathetically on the ground. (And no matter how many times she scolded herself for it, she was  _jealous_ )

* * *

With only two days before the school festival, everyone in the school was making outlandish preparations in attempts to impress their parents. Chieko was one of those people as Yumiko had spent several lunch periods cheering her on from the sidelines as Chieko made calls over what had to be ordered and what needs to be constructed. ("I  _hate_ this part of school festivals," Chieko said with a sigh, she had just spent most of a phone call stuttering out orders and her face was a deep red from embarrassment, "I-I'm really no good at making serious phone calls."

"I'd say you're just no good at talking in general," Yumiko teased. Chieko pouted at the jibe and Yumiko laughed at how  _adorable_  she looked.)

Yumiko herself had barely been able to participate in planning or construction and had spaced out during homeroom when plans over who does what for their class theme (Yumiko was pretty sure they were doing some kind of French tea party where most of the students would be serving guests and families).

The past few days had been almost...lonely. With Chieko gone and Yumiko being way too poor to be able to participate much she had wasted most of her lunches studying or spamming Kura texts. The school festival really shoved in the fact that she only had  _one_ friend in all of Ouran, and any acquaintances that she'd talk to when she couldn't talk to Chieko were busy with their own school festival duties.

But hey, eating lunch alone did give her an opportunity to sneakily listen to the rumor mill. While it was normally something she wasn't all that interested in unless it concerned her (she was almost sad that the rumors about 'the mysterious Kenran boy who dropped off the scholarship student' had gotten dull and was dropped), there was an interesting rumor that had caught her attention.

Apparently one of the third years themes required  _live_ animals and that one of them had escaped. Not only had it escaped but not even the school security could catch it. And just what kind of animal was it? A monkey.

The first time Yumiko had heard that rumor (she was sitting in the lunch room...alone) she had spit out her water and descended into laughter. A monkey?! Like the one from the anime?! Oh dear God that thing has been running around the school since Mitsukuni's and Morinozuka's first year?! That's hilarious (and a little worrying if the school security couldn't catch a monkey in  _three years_ )!

The rumor was only further confirmed when on the way back to class she saw a male student slip on a  _banana peel_. She giggled about it all the way to class and had to chew on her lip to stop her giggles from slipping out as during her teachers lessons.

Time passed and rumor said that more people were still slipping on banana peels and people made claims about where they had seen the monkey. It was hilarious and Yumiko couldn't help but giggle at the thought. She couldn't exactly remember how many times the monkey gag had been used in the anime; but the fact that it was true here? Hilarious to Yumiko's terrible humor!

Anyway, with two days left before the school festival (and Yumiko was just barely dreading the idea of her parents or grandparents or even her sister embarrassing her in front of her classmates - or worse in front of Chieko) Yumiko was excited for the construction to be over and for things to go back to normal. She was also just a little ready for a certain blonde to hurry up and confront Haninozuka because seeing him try to be manly all the time was getting tiring and a more than a little worrying.

Yumiko was walking out of school, waving goodbye to anyone who waved at her or said goodbye first. She was just about to say goodbye to Chieko and hurry up on walking to the usual meeting point Kura picked her up at to avoid the limo traffic, when her phone went off. It was a text from Kura.

' _Trouble wanna help?'_

Yumiko stopped walking, earning a confused head tilt from Chieko, and she could feel her eye begin to twitch. She clenched her teeth, looked up at the sky, and weighed the consequences in her head.

On one hand getting his ass kicked might help Kura into learning to pick his fights more carefully. On the other hand, he's an idiot and is about to get beat up.

Another text. ' _Pretty pls?_ ' with a dozen other heart and animal emojis.

"Motherfucker," Yumiko mumbled to herself before sending a nervous smile to Chieko, "Kobuchi-kun...think you can drop me off at Kenran academy?"

* * *

"I'm going to  _KILL YOU_ ," Yumiko yelled at her best friend, punching his arm with the little bit of strength she had left.

The two of them were leaned against the gates of Kura's household. A first aid kit was at each of their sides as they patched each other up.

Yumiko had a big patch on her cheek, on the side of her temple, and a small one just under her lip. Kura, who had been fighting longer and on his own, looked worse with a black eye and bruises all over his arms and knuckles. His hands were wrapped up and patches covered his cheek. He had cotton stuffed up his nose to stop the bleeding and a comical bump was on his head.

" _AH_! Look I get it already! Quit picking fights, quit getting beat up you already told me off after the fight," Kura grumbled, rubbing at his bruised arm.

"That's not it  _stupid_ ," Yumiko hissed through gritted teeth before pointing to her face, "How the hell am I supposed to show up to school looking like I got into a fight and  _lost_."

Kura blinked one, then twice before glancing to the side and shrugging. "Tell...the truth? That you got into a fight and won?"

He just barely dodged her thrown fist.

" _Ugghhhh,_ " She groaned, pulling lightly at her long her, "My parents are gonna kill me when I get home! Ughhh, and Chieko's probably gonna freak out when she sees me covered in bandages... _Damnit_  and the school festival is-" She snapped up, sitting straighter and tugged at her messy locks of hair, "What am I going to do at the school festival?!"

Kuranosuke winced, lip curling up slightly as he looked everywhere but his friend. Guilt was churning in his stomach while anxiety was storming Yumiko's. Anxious and panicked thoughts were brewing in the back of her mind (how the hell she would explain that  _yes_ she regularly got into fights and  _yes_ her best friend was a future gang lord in the making and  _yes_  she was technically involved with a small gang because of this, all without ruining her scholarship and letting her parents find out the specifics about Kuranosuke and and  _and and-_ ).

Kura grabbed Yumiko's hands, gently taking them away from her hair so she would quit tugging so hard at her dark locks. He gave quiet instructions to help her focus on  _breathing_  not hyperventilating and that things would be fine as long as she focused on breathing (he'd seen her anxiety at its worst before and he was more than prepared to help her through it again).

Yumiko sucked in large breaths of oxygen, trying to slow her breathing and calm down her anxiety. Minutes passed as she calmed down and the two delved into silence. They did last minute fix ups and ended up leaning against the gates in silence.

Yumiko sat with her legs up to her chest and her arms resting on her knees, her chin resting on her arms as she silently moped. Kura glanced at his friend and inhaled through gritted teeth before looking away from her.

"...She could be into this sorta thing," Kura said suddenly, a small smirk on his face, "That girl you're into, she could be into bad boy-er girls."

Yumiko looked up at her friend, her chin still resting on her knees, and raised an eyebrow.

Kura flashed a goofy smile, "Some rich girls are into the whole rebellious/delinquent type. You already beat the shit outta plenty of yakuza kids before, now ya just gotta look like one. Plus mean the whole beaten black and blue look gives an improvement to my handsome face so it must work twice as much for yours."

Yumiko lifted her head up, sending a flat look towards her best friend (and  _no_  she definitely was not fighting back a smile at her friends bad attempts at cheering her up). "Are you trying to cheer me up by calling me ugly?"

With a guilty smile Kura shrugged, "It's worked before!"

Yumiko punched him again, a smirk appearing on her face when the boy winced. Yumiko let out a sigh as she got up, dusting off her legs as she did so.

"Next time you call for help I'm gonna join the bastards kicking your ass," Yumiko grumbled, sending a flat look to her friend, "Then I'm gonna let you be someone else's problem for once." Despite the harsh words she still stuck out a hand to help Kura up. The two for silent for just a second before Kura grabbed her hand.

"Nah...You've said the same thing before," Kura said as he hopped up, "But you're still stuck with me!"

Kura threw his arm around her shoulders (the pair winced in unison) as they started walking to Yumiko's home.

"So should I show you how to cover up those bruises with just a bit of makeup or…?"

"Mmm, I don't know yet. I like my freckles just a bit too much to cover them up."

* * *

For Yumiko it felt like she blinked and suddenly she was being scolded by her disappointed parents, blinked again and she was dealing with Chieko's panic at seeing so many bandages on her face and hands (and after some pestering during lunch Yumiko showed her the bruising on her arms and knuckles) plus the questioning from some classmates.

"I had to do some late night errands and nearly got mugged." Was the easy lie Kuranosuke and her had come up with. It had caused Chieko to tear up as she fretted over Yumiko (and the sight of her friends pretty face looking so devastated made Yumiko's heart twinge with guilt and her stomach feel sick because she was  _lying_ to her crus-  _ **friend**_ ).

Other classmates did ask for a more detailed story (something she was afraid of giving because even if she had been nearly mugged before Yumiko didn't want to make up an entire story on the spot) but Chieko,  _wonderful_  Chieko, had came to her defense...surprisingly.

"D-don't you thi-think it's rude," the quiet girl said in a voice that  _wasn't_ a quiet hush, "To-to ask for details when Yamamoto-san is cl-clearly  _hurt_."

It surprised the boy that sat in front of Yumiko, who had spent the last minute asking for details on what had happened last night. It surprised Yumiko who had spent the whole school year (which was much longer than a normal school year should be thanks to time being so weird) never heard Chieko talk above a loud whisper.

The boy turned around while Yumiko looked at Chieko with wide eyes. Chieko met her stare for a handful of seconds before looking down at her hands in her lap.

"U-Uh  _s-sorr-_ "

"Thank you Kobuchi-kun."

This time Chieko looked up with wide eyes, not shocked or surprised at the greeting but just waiting to see what would happen next (and probably not sure what to say). Yumiko smiled, not exactly a big one but a happy one (a pretty girl had just tried to stand up for her, how couldn't Yumiko be happy ) that tugged more at one side of her face than another.

Chieko smiled back, a bigger one that made her eyes close and show off all of her perfect white teeth. A small blush was on her cheeks. Yumiko could have sworn little flowers and sparkled had surrounded her friend because of just how  _cute_  she looked ( _Heart you quit that doki doki junk right now_ , Yumiko thought and she could just imagine a comedic arrow striking her through the heart in the moment).

"So," Yumiko broke the nice moment with a smirk a raised eyebrow, "what was that about? My obnoxious attitude finally rubbing off on you? What's next? Ya gonna meet me in a commoner back alley and say a curse word?"

Chieko, who was still smiling albeit a much smaller one, pushed her two pointer fingers together. "W-well while I-I don't plan on d-doing any of that anytime s-soon, I wouldn't c-call you obnoxious. M-more  _uncultured_  than anything."

The smirk dropped and for a second Yumiko had a look of confusion on her face before, "Oh my God...now you're  _teasing_? Who are you and what have you done with Chieko Kobuchi?"

She giggled in response and their teacher walked in before the conversation could continue.

* * *

Saying she frequently stared at Morinozuka and Haninozuka would be lying. Most days she sent one or two momentary glances and then continue on her day. It was Chieko who would convince her to go to the lunch room just so she could send adoring gazes at Haninozuka.

Yumiko didn't interact with the duo. Once or twice she'd accidentally make eye contact with Morinozuka besides that, they haven't even talked with each other.

Yumiko was plenty curious about who was on the other side of Morinozuka's string. Wondered why it looked so sad, so pathetic, so limp (one day she looked at her string and his and realized they  _almost_  looked similar and for just one second wondered a cursed  _what if_  before crushing that thought where it stood, what if's were always too dangerous). Haninozuka was safe. In her last life she'd wasted plenty of money on the manga, knew that one day he'd meet a girl from the black magic club who he would somehow con into marrying him.

Point is, they were classmates,  _strangers_  to each other. Did it bother Yumiko?

…

No. Not really.

* * *

Chieko had covered the bruises on her face with cover up. It saddened her quite a bit when the cover up also covered her freckled cheeks (she actually really did like her freckles) but it beat having to face high status, upper class rich folk with bruises and cuts all over her face. The bandaged up knuckles were fixed with gloves that went along with the waiter uniform she and a few other classmates chose to wear. Gotta dress up for the part and all that!

For most of the school day, everything went borderline perfectly! Some of her classmates pointed her out as the scholarship student and she would often get complimented for how hard she must be working to be top of her class in Ouran Academy. (Maybe the many praises inflated her ego just a  _bit_ )

Her parents and grandfather showed up and she was forced to endure an embarrassing amount of tears from her mother (who  _yes_ did take a horrible amount of photos) as her father crushed her in a hug. Her grandfather patted her on the head and eyed her dead looking string before saying she looked nice.

She sat the small trio of adults down and happily sat down next to them for a few minutes, chatting about school and her friends and acquaintances and pointing them out where they were and what family they belonged to.

She did get up eventually, promising to bring food in drinks in a few minutes. Or at least she would have if Chieko hadn't latched onto her the second she was out of hearing distance from her family.

"W-was that you're family?" She asked in a whisper, eyeing her family with curiosity as she dragged Yumiko to an empty table to sit at.

"Yes but please avoid them."

Chieko looked almost hurt at the statement. Yumiko was quick to explain herself.

"Trust me, if my mom gets ahold of you, you'll be stuck over there for ten minutes getting your picture taken. Then they'll probably grill you for all the saucy details about what I'm like during school."

That got a small giggle out of her.

"The-they seem nice," Chieko hummed with a small smile.

"They are but they're so  _embarrassing_."

Another giggle. Both girls caught sight of more people entering the room. Their short conversation would have to end soon.

"M-My father's like that, h-he's always so busy so he likes to spoil me when he sees me."

Yumiko raised an eyebrow, glancing around the room as she spoke, "Speaking of your father, where are your parents? I thought you said they'd be coming."

Chieko winced and glanced to the side before getting up, "Probably bothering Kenta about how he's been. He promised he'd be here and Mother thinks he doesn't visit enough so she always hounds him about how he's been every chance she gets."

"Kenta? You have a bother?"

Chieko was quiet as she took a few steps away Yumiko. "I actually have two brothers but Kenta isn't one of them," She looked back with a small smile that seemed...sad, "Kenta's my fiance."

The string around Chieko's finger actually  _hummed_  at the confession, twisting and curling in on itself as Chieko walked closer to the door. The string got shorter the closer she got.

Yumiko was stuck, slightly frozen (and those  _stupid feelings_  that she kept trying to stop and squash were in the front of her mind as her feelings had the audacity to be  _hurt_  at the idea of her adorable and pretty friend's soulmate being so close) as she watched her walk away.

Oh.

 _ **Oh**_.

Yumiko got up and got her family the food she promised. Smiling and laughing with them for a few moments before going back to work.

* * *

Things started getting bad when the dull and pathetic looking string wrapped around her pinkie started getting tight. Tighter than it normally would. And there was tugging. It still wasn't tight enough to really hurt and it wasn't like something was strong enough to actually get her to move.

But it was getting close. Close enough to hurt and close enough that Yumiko almost had to fight to keep her arm steady. Meaning...Something?

Yumiko forced a smile as a lady (which Yumiko could have sworn she'd seen before in one of grandfathers dramas he watches on TV) complimented her. They went through a small conversation before Yumiko managed to slip away.

Brown eyes glanced around the room, straying just an extra few seconds at the occasional pair of parents that (thankfully) had connecting red strings or (way more depressing) had strings that were leading in the opposite direction of each other. Very few students had strings. And none that were leading or even in the general direction of Yumiko. Then why the hell was it getting so damn tight? And why-

There was movement in the corner of her eye, a quick moving shape that many rumors had been centered around. Yumiko's head snapped in direction of the door (that for some strange reason had  _no one_  around it) and she was fast enough to just barely see the rumored  _monkey_ slip out of the room. In a...waiter uniform?

A snort slipped out as Yumiko was quick to slap a hand over her mouth and she was quick to move in the opposite direction. Somewhere around the room there was probably a banana peel and some poor fool was going to slip and she didn't want to be the one to mention seeing the monkey and not telling anyone.

Oh but it would be hilarious! Some poor student or, even funnier, a parent would end up causing a small scene yet hilarious scene as they-

" _Takashi!_ "

"Morinozuka-san!"

With a jump Yumiko turned around and suddenly the world slowed down. A body was falling with Yumiko being right behind them. Plates and teacups were in the air. She could either catch them, scramble to catch the  _very_ expensive fine china, or do nothing and let the body crush her and let the plates and teacups shatter.

She acted without thinking and suddenly she had a very big and heavy person in her arms.

(And suddenly something on her hand  _burned_ the second they touched, and she could feel it travel somehow as her heart suddenly seemed to be pumping with adrenaline and her stomach felt sick with butterflies and her cheeks burned from blushing.

Her string -the string that had been limp, dull, sad, pathetic,  _dead_  since she first opened her brown eyes - started glowing. It hummed, low but deep before exploding in sparkles and seemed to leap in the air and it  _stayed there_. It started to curl around the pair and it twisted itself so that it made dozens of little hearts out of itself.

All of this happened in one second.)

The person in her arms had managed to catch the plates and teacups.  _Nice reflexes,_  Yumiko thought as her eyes traveled from the large hands that balanced the plates and teacups to the face of the boy in her arms.

A string, glowing bright red and curled around them caught her eyes and her heart stopped as the world died around her. Dull browns and handsome greys stared at each other, both in shock (although Yumiko was more  _horrified_  and he was just surprised).

Takashi Morinozuka, kendo world champ, captain of the kendo club, cousin to Mitsukuni Haninozuka and future silent type host to the Ouran Highschool Host Club was in her arms.

A blush, very small and barely noticeable, appeared on the boys face as he realized the girl was holding him bridal style. Also very  _easily_  holding him at that.

Takashi Morinozuka was in her arms. Takashi Morinozuka was in her arms and he was  _blushing_. Takashi Morinozuka was in her arms, blushing, and was on the other side of her red string.

Yumiko eyes remained almost comically wide (still with that splash of horror in them) as she slowly forced her focus away from (her soulmate? The other end of her red string? How? Why?  _Why why why why why why why why why_ _ **why**_ ) Morinozuka-san.

She looked at his family, who all stared at her with equally wide eyes. The people in the general area starred as well, not expecting the small and overweight girl to be able to hold such a tall boy.

There was probably an appropiate way to escape the situation but the most the was going on in Yumiko's head was - 'Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa _aaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA_ _ **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH**_!'

A small idea popped up in the back of her mind as she slowly, almost mechanically, let go of Morinozuka. She was careful to let him down gently, straight faced as she held up her pointer finger as if she was scolding someone.

"You should be more careful Morinozuka-san."

And she turned around and walked to the other side of the room and ignored the red string that was quick to untangle itself.

* * *

" _Kuranosuke_! Keep laughing and these bandages are going around your  _throat_ next!"

The threat did nothing to stop the boys hysterics. With one leg propped up on Yumiko's leg and the while the rest of his body laid in the dirt, Kura was clutching his sides as he laughed.

Bandages and patched covered the handsome boy. His hands had been carefully wrapped up, a bandaid was covering the cut on his head, and patches were scattered on his arms and legs. Yumiko was in the midst of trying to wrap the boys sprained ankle but he was too busy laughing at her to notice.

The girl herself was glaring at him, mouth twisting in contempt as her threat was ignored and Yumiko was wondering if the boy would even notice if she got up and left him alone in the park.

It was late at night. Or actually more like early morning at this point. Kura had woken her up by spamming her phone with texts and calls, then got her to sneak out of the house by showing up and throwing pebbles at her window. Yumiko walked out the door to see the idiot with a big smile on his face despite the black eye, bruises everywhere, and a bleeding cut on his forehead. She nearly decked him right then and there for getting into another big fight (without  _her_  to back him up).

So they walked to the park. The same park that they had gone to when were little kids to play and the same park they go to as older kids to patch each other up at. And with her walking and Kura limping he asked her about yesterday, well aware that it had been the schools festival. Well aware that something  _big_ had happened judging by the curses she had spammed his phone with yesterday during his own school festival (and despite how hard he questioned her she didn't explain because she  _couldn't_  fully explain because Kura couldn't  _see_ what she can and if he could he would see the brightly twisting string that was connected to her finger and he would understand but he  _can't_  see what she sees so what's the point of explaining when no one but her and Grandfather can see so you know what?  _It's fine Kura, I was overreacting really I'm fine something weird just happened really I'm fine I'm fine I'm fine I'm fine I'm fine_ _ **I'm fine**_ ).

And she told him what happened (the censored version that involved no red strings or horrified looks exchanged with Grandpa or no anxiety filled hours as Yumiko watched the red string  _her_ red string twist and turn and  _glow_  when she made eye contact with  _him_  after the  _thing_ that happened). She had already patched him up for the most part when she told him the  _thing_.

He burst out laughing. Then he kept laughing. And laughing, and laughing. His face was going red by the time she had started threatening him.

Honestly, her story wasn't even funny. Horrifyingly embarrassing, yes. But  _not_ funny.

"AHAHAHAHA-Oh  _GOD!_ That  _happened_! That honest to God  _happened_! And in front of most of your  _CLASSMATES_! And  _THEIR_ _ **FAMILIES**_!" The boy wheezed out before descending back into hysterics. Yumiko raised her fist. "Oh man! The  _rumors!_ Yumi ya gotta tell me about the- _OW! SON OF A-_ "

Yumiko glared down at the boy, a flat look on her face as she raised her arm up and away from the already heavily bruised area on his leg. A quick punch to one of his many injuries always got the bastard to shut up.

Kura hissed and cursed, bringing his leg up to grip spot on his leg that was throbbing in pain (and with one of Yumiko's punches the bruises would only get darker). He spent another minute breathing through clenched teeth and mumbling curses and threats directed at the people who did this to him and to Yumiko herself.

It wasn't until he put his leg back onto her lap did he calm down and Yumiko went to work patching him up. They were quiet until she finished wrapping his ankle, and Yumiko let out a big sigh before letting her upper body drop onto the dirt.

"...Some kids are calling it 'an act of passion as I promise to confess my undying love' and Chieko-kun heard someone say it was an 'obnoxious and angry threat to the entire clan'...So I need to transfer schools immediately..."

Kura burst into laughter. Again.

* * *

"Oh seems he's thinking about you again."

Yumiko slammed her hands on the living room table before pointing a finger at her grandfather, "I'll smash your teacups and burn your fancy tea leaves old man!"

He took a loud sip in response.

Yumiko sighed, slumping over and letting her head bang against the table. She groaned, very aware of the fact that the very light touch of her red string skimming across her arm  _was_ because Morinozuka was thinking about her. Again.

' _Let me diiiiieeeeeee aaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!'_

It had been a week since the school festival, and Yumiko had been doing her best to avoid Morinozuka. It honestly wasn't the hard since the two didn't interact with each other already but he  _thought_ about her and sometimes they made eye contact with each other and the their shared string would hum everytime they did.

Sometimes she wondered if Morinozuka thought she had a crush on him. It would explain the dark blush on her face every time she looked at him (and at one point she did have a small crush on him. In her last life where at one point or another she had a crush on all of the hosts members because to her they were just fictional characters she could revisit every time she needed a laugh they weren't real but now they  _are real and one of them is apparently her_ _ **soulmate**_ ) and why she was so embarrassed by the rumors about them. She tried to ignore those thoughts as it just made her cringe and want to die from embarrassment just a little bit more.

Chieko had hounded her for details and even laughed at the hilarity of it all because she didn't know about just what truly happened between her and Morinozuka. ("You must have looked so cool Yamamoto-kun!" Chieko whispered, the adorably quiet tone somehow managing to hold so much excitement and awe, "No one would ever expect such a small girl to be able to hold Mori-san up like he weighed  _nothing!_  How did you get so strong Yumi!"

Yumiko inhaled through clenched teeth as she remembered the daily jogs, work out sessions, and 'I'm trying to save your ass ya Bastard' fights she had gotten into since elementary school. All thanks to the asshole she called a best friend.

"Er...I work out a lot with a friend," Yumiko mumbled, a comical sweat drop on the side of her face as she pulled at the ends of her large sweater.) At one point during lunch she had asked just how much Yumiko could carry, as a joke of course. But Yumiko just shrugged before lifting Chieko up bridal style. The blush on Chieko's face was adorable and definitely worth the bit of spilled tea that ended up on her sweater.

Grandfather and her talked, mostly late at night and mostly about her calming down her anxieties about the whole situation. Hell that's why the two were in the living room so late currently.

"You don't have to do anything about the situation," He told her after a long sip of his stupid tea, "You can ignore it and there's a good chance nothing will happen. Just because you share a string doesn't mean you have to be together."

Yumiko glanced up from her slumped over position a frown on her face as she realized just what he was referring to. When Yumiko had been younger the family had neighbors that had only been married about two years. They lived right next door for only about five months. The pair were soulmates, Yumiko knew that from the string on their pinkies that glowed whenever the two held hands. The housewife had babysat her occasionally.

At least until she found out her husband was having an affair.

Yumiko could still remember peeking the hedges when the wife had left for the last time, remembered the string that suddenly dulled and lowered (it didn't touch the ground and it didn't completely fade out) the further away she got. The husband moved out a few weeks later (Yumiko and Grandma had egged his house the night before he left, Grandma hated the idea of men cheating on their wives).

The string glowed again and Yumiko wondered just what Morinozuka was doing thinking of her so late at night. He should be sleeping damnit. Unless he was dreaming abou-  _stop that thought right there stop it stop it stop it._

"The boy could still live a happy life without his soul mate in it," Grandpa got up and took his half full cup of tea with him, "I think we both know just how happy he'll be soon enough."

* * *

Just because a couple shared a red string didn't mean they were going to end up having their own happy romance ending with a happily ever after. Yumiko considered herself lucky that her parents were so in love with each other. She was well aware that just because someone had already met their soulmate didn't mean they were in love. Chieko was proof enough of that as she still had a huge crush on Haninozuka despite having a fiance who was also her soul mate. You could still fall in love with someone or even out of love. Or maybe you could live a perfectly happy life without coming anywhere near your soulmate.

So what was the point of these stupid strings? Yumiko had questioned it time and time again since she was reborn, wasted days just scribbling notes in loose pieces of notebook paper and connecting bullet points and writing down theories just trying to get some kind of answer. Grandfather had given up on finding answers early on in his second life but Yumiko was stubborn enough to still question  _why_?

Yumiko didn't talk to Takashi, and outside of making eye contact at school and apparently the occasional thought of the other, they didn't ever interact. They didn't have to.

Takashi Morinozuka was going to live a happy life surrounded by friends and eventually he would get his own wife and have kids. Yumiko already knew that, hell in her last life she had borderline memorized the words that stated he would either have a calm traditional wife or an energetic outgoing girl. Yumiko wasn't needed there. He'd find love and he'd be happy.

But...was that selfish of her?

(and there it was, that one guilty thought that had bothered her insistently since the night of the school festival, the thought she wanted to ignore more than the ones about her crush on Chieko. Was she a bad person for avoiding Morinozuka?)

Supposedly they were soulmates, meaning they were meant for each other. Something about her worked so well with him that they would work better than any other pair. But how? What was it?

How much would it affect either of them if they never interacted?

…

Who cares? The only people in the entire world that know they were destined for each other was Yumiko and her grandfather. So who cares? No one that's who! So why the hell should she let herself be bothered by it? ( _Drop it Yumiko forget it forget it forget it forget it_ Yumiko scolded herself, well aware that her anxious thoughts would always be in the back of her head)

Ignorance is bliss and all that shit.

* * *

The school day had ended nearly an hour ago, and Yumiko was horribly aware of how long the walk would be from the school to the train station and then to home would be. Just loitering around the school grounds was doing nothing to help her time issue. The dull ache on her cheek wasn't helping either. Another late night with Kura which resulted into getting real close to actually getting mugged by a trio of late night drunks. Kura and her won the fight (thankfully) but not without some bruises and even cuts. The bandage on her cheekbone did keep her from scratching at the very thin cut.

Yumiko had stayed to work on an extra credit project for history and she didn't want to deal with the disappointed looks from her parents for getting in another fight (even if the two were happy she didn't get seriously hurt, they didn't like how frequently their oldest daughter seem to get dragged into fighting). While she definitely didn't need extra credit, history was her worse subject. Still top of her class but only just barely and that extra credit would definitely solidify her place.

Yumiko bit at her lip, realizing she was actually pretty close to the schools dojos. She could always peek in and watch the other students practice…

Ugh but is she saw Morinozuka or Haninozuka...Ughh…

Her string jumped at the thought, curling and twisting itself until it formed all sorts of little hearts. Gross.

Yumiko sighed before turning around, ready to start her long walk home-

"Excuse me princess but could you- PRINCESS YOUR FACE!"

And that's how Yumiko Yamamoto met Tamaki Suoh.


	3. Chapter 3

Now let it be clear that Haninozuka was  _cute_ , the kind of cute that should only be found in children (which granted he  _looked_  like a child) and small animals. The small stature and baby face probably could've gotten the parental instincts of any decent person working into overdrive. He was adorable in every sense of the word that it was almost easy to forget the fact that Yumiko shared a class with him.

Morinozuka, on the other hand, was  _handsome_. His kind of messy hair and dark eyes made him borderline the dream guy that festered in every teen girls 'tall, dark, and mysterious' type of fantasy. His tall stature and strong body just aided that role even further.

But Tamaki Suoh? Tamaki Suoh was  _ **gorgeous**_. Gorgeous blonde hair that looked like it would be a dream to just run your fingers through, pale skin that had been untouched by rough work, and his  _eyes_. Heavenly sapphire orbs that genuinely had dashes of  _violet_  in them. Tamaki Suoh looked like he crawled out of a little girls 'handsome prince' fantasy and decided to wear the Ouran middle school uniform just for the fun of it.

Yumiko would have been positively flustered to see him for the first time.

_Would have_  being the key words here because-

"YOUR FACE! PRINCESS WHAT'S HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE?"

A small sweat drop was on the side of Yumiko's face as she looked to the side uncomfortably. Tamaki's screaming, shocked looks, and the finger pointed to her slightly bruised and bandaged face had ruined any effect his handsomeness would have had on her.

' _Don't forget Yumiko he's a moron_... _A tackless moron..._ ' She reminded herself before meeting Suoh's eyes again. He was still screaming and still pointing and that was enough to make Yumiko just a little embarrassed.

"...I fell down the stairs in my house," While yes this was a lie about how she got the bruises on her face, it wasn't a complete lie as just this morning Yumiko had slipped on one of her sisters voodoo dolls. She only fell over the last few steps, but it was enough to bruise the arm she had landed on.

Her voice seemed to shock Suoh out of his rambling (or maybe screeching would be a better way to describe it?) and Yumiko blinked and suddenly soft hands were cupping the cheek that wasn't bandaged. Suddenly beautiful eyes (because Yumiko could  _only_ focus on his eyes) were inches away from hers and something in the back of Yumiko's mind was reminding her that Suoh was going into… 'Princely mode'? (Was that what she would be calling it?)

"Oh what terrible luck we have my dear princess," Suoh said and in the corner of her eye Yumiko could see white roses and sparkles surround them, "Today I've been robbed of the sight of your beautiful face-"

"Suoh-san please let go of me, you're hurting my bruises."

It was a dead lie but it got Suoh to let go of her and practically  _leap_  away from her, a look of horror on his face at the idea of hurting a 'princess'. Pfft! The idea of Yumiko - overweight, unattractive, muscle filled, obnoxious Yumiko - ever being anything as feminine as a  _princess_  was hilarious (even if it also hurt just a little).

"Princess, please forgive me! If I knew that-"

And he was back to rambling, throwing his hands around as he did. Yumiko wondered just what the hell he was doing here. He was in the Ouran middle school uniform meaning he would be in his...3rd year right? Wait shoot did Tamaki come to Ouran in his 3rd or 2nd year of middle school? Well that didn't exactly matter since either way he was only just a year below her. Heh, Tamaki Suoh was was her kohai.

So if Tamaki Suoh is here...then Kyoya Ootori is already on board with the idea of a Host Club. The twins are in their 2nd year of middle school, same for Haruhi who's at whatever middle school she was in before Ouran. Hmm, but wasn't she going to show up at Ouran at some point before high school? Just to check it out or get paperwork done? Hmm…Wait Suoh's at the high school meaning he's here to try and recruit-

"Princess?"

Yumiko flinched, snapping out of her thoughts. Without even if realizing it she had been pulling on her lip, a habit she didn't know when she had picked up. She dropped her hand and without really thinking said, "Suoh-san I've got a home to get to. Can you please ask what you wanted so we can both go our separate ways?" So she could far,  _far_ away from the beginning of the Host Club.

Tamaki blinked, one and then twice before snapping back into his prince mode. He grabbed both of her hands and brought her in slightly, a dazzling smile on his face as he somehow managed to pull off a loving gaze. (That definitely did not have her fighting back a blush)

"I'm sorry for being so selfish princess, wasting the time of-"

"Suoh-san  _please_."

He flinched at the harsh tone before quickly finishing his question. "Princess could you tell me where first years Mitsukuni Haninozuka and Takashi Morinozuka are?"

Yumiko blinked, once and then twice. ' _Shouldn't the chairman's son know the high school better than this?_ ' She still turned around and pointed towards the dojos. "There are the school dojos, right past those buildings. Normally the front entrance opened a bit so you'll either see a crowd of girls or hear them as they're practicing."

Tamaki gave a loud and grand thank you saying compliments that made Yumiko blush as she walked past him. The sooner she was away from Suoh the sooner he could get to Haninozuka-san and ask his question on true strength, getting Haninozuka to question his entire mindset and-

Tamaki didn't have a bunny hand puppet with him.

…

Yumiko whirled around just as Tamaki, for some reason, did the same. Both blinked at each other. Tamaki definitely didn't have any pink bunny puppet on him, meaning he had no way to draw Haninozuka away from his club, meaning he didn't have any way to getting Haninozuka to listen to him meaning -

"Princess I never told you my name."

Yumiko blinked again, her mind freezing in its tracks as Tamaki's voice had snapped her out of her miniature panic. She processed the question and took a few extra seconds before answering with a...half truth?

"Heard about you from the rumor mill, you  _are_ the chairman's son aren't you? Tamaki Suoh?" In another part of her mind Yumiko also added the name René to that statement. But hey, she's technically not suppose to know Tamaki's  _full_   _name_.

Tamaki was quiet for just a second before smiling (a very charming smile) with a nod. "And was there something you wanted to ask me Princess?"

' _Yeah quit it with the 'Princess' shit and go grab some cute puppet so you can talk Honey into joining your weird club. And, hey, then completely forget about me while you're at it cause I would rather not deal with the family drama I know is going on in the Suoh household._ '

"...I'm classmates with Haninozuka and Morinozuka...what do you need with them?"

That was the wrong question because suddenly Tamaki was by her side with an arm wrapped around her shoulder as he suddenly started talking about entertaining young girls with too much time on her hands yadda yadda something about good snacks and tea yadda yadda (which  _no_  a small point of her definitely wasn't elated at the fact that she was hearing the famous host club spiel from Tamaki Suoh himself). But the problem here was that he didn't have a way to get Haninozuka's attention…

Would Tamaki mess up his chance of having Honey and Mori as club members if he doesn't know about Haninozuka's current problem regarding cute things?

"...Suoh-san," She interrupted him and shrugged his arm off of her, "...You do know that Haninozuka-san is avoiding cute things right?"

He tilted his head with a 'hmm' and Yumiko tried not to squint at the question marks that appeared around him. Wait...Yumiko frowned, wondering how the hell he didn't know this.

Yumiko glanced to the side, weighing pros and cons in her head and wondering what's the worst that could happen if she just turns around now and runs home.

"Well, according to the rumor mill around school..." And she explained (making sure to say things that she had  _only_ heard from the rumor mill and definitely not anything from a certain manga and anime she's seen in her past life) that Haninozuka-san had spent most of the school year trying to be a 'manly man' as a commitment to discipline and control, "I don't know why you need Haninozuka-san," which yes was a complete lie, "But he's really committed to this Suoh-san. If your gonna try and get him into your club you're gonna need something to get him to listen to you."

Tamaki was quiet, thinking over the new information. Yumiko was about to start inching away when he suddenly perked up, clearly getting a new idea. He smiled (that stupid charming smile that made Yumiko understand how so many girls could fall for Suoh's charm) before thanking her.

He grabbed her hands once again, "Princess what's your name?"

' _PLEASE DON'T ASK ME THAT I CAN'T THINK OF A REASON TO NOT TELL YOU AAAHHHH_ _ **HHHHHH**_ _'_

She was quiet for a moment before she snatched her hand back, "...Yumiko Yamamoto...I'm the scholarship student."

* * *

Grandfather had laughed at her when she complained to him how unfairly attractive all of the host club members were gonna be. Had actually choked on his stupid tea before throwing his head back. She told him the events that had happened only a few hours early and he had ruffled her hair before telling her to not worry (and she wasn't worrying!...yet) before sending her off to bed.

So Yumiko laid in bed, a small frown on her face as she stared at her ceiling. She talked to Tamaki Suoh and had helped him get the idea on how to talk to Haninozuka-san. Which brought up the question on how the hell did he not know about the situation Haninozuka-san was in? How did he find out originally?

…

Tamaki could have walked in to see them practicing asked others on details. Yumiko probably didn't even need to try and mess with things.

"Idiot," Yumiko hissed before grabbed her pillow and covering her face, she yelled curses (in English) before just screaming into the pillow, " _Dumbass! Stay out of other people's business you stupid freakin-UGGHHH!_ "

Yumiko let go of her pillow and instead threw the covers over her head and slammed her eyes shut as she tried to force herself into thinking about anything else.

' _Finals will be soon, gotta start studying and get ready for the work I'll have over the break...Ugh! Damnit! Gotta figure out a way to get Kura to actually_ _ **do**_ _his homework...Might have to do the same for Chieko since she's probably gonna need help studying...'_

Yumiko fell asleep, not at all aware of her red string that was suddenly glowing and twisting in on itself again.

* * *

Haninozuka-san had brought in Usa-chan by the end of the week. He wasn't exactly head diving into complete indulgence, but Yumiko had heard from the rumor mill that he had already fought his father and  _won_  (Yumiko had spent nearly an entire class sending glances towards the blonde - and his stuffed bunny - and thought about how scary the loliboy actually was).

"I'm happy for him," Chieko had said during lunch as she sent adoring gazes towards the blonde who was happily eating a singular slice of cake (and Yumiko was grateful she didn't have to see him eat entire cake just yet), "It-it's nice to see him smiling and laughing a-and enjoying himself."

Yumiko (who  _wasn't_  annoyed by the loving smile Chieko was sending Haninozuka-san) stared at the blonde before shrugging. She was happy too, glad she no longer had to deal with the uncomfortable sight of watching the small teen act like something he wasn't. It was getting even harder to watch.

"Yeah...Glad he listened to Suoh-san," Yumiko said before stuffing her mouth with some of the onigiri her mother had stuffed in her bento. Mom was in a rush this morning so todays bento was smaller than normal. Yumiko was actually pretty happy about that.

"Hmm?" Chieko finally pried her eyes away from the blonde with a small frown, "Suoh-san?"

Yumiko froze for a moment, realizing that the she had heard absolutely  _nothing_ about the host club yet meaning no one knew the real reason Haninozuka-san had suddenly started acting like this.  _Shit_.

"...I ran into the chairman's son earlier this week..." And she explained the whole situation (taking things out like her moments of panic and the information that she definitely shouldn't know etc. etc.) and laughed at the blush that formed on Chieko's face when described just what the club Tamaki was forming would be about.

"O-Oh my...T-To think the chairman's son is trying to o-open up a club like that..." Chieko said as she tried to look at anything that wasn't Yumiko's laughing form or Honey who was still happily eating his cake.

"Y-You  _haha_  can say you're  _pffft_ -interested in the club Kobuchi!" Yumiko said in between her laughter, "Hell if it wasn't our classmates  _I'd_  be interested in a club like that. Hot guys complimenting me no matter how ugly I look? Hell yeah!"

"Yamamoto-chan!" Chieko scolded with her blush only getting worse, "Yo-you shouldn't say it like  _that_. A-And you-you're not  _ugly_  Yama-chan!"

" _Pfft_ -I appreciate the attempts Kobuchi but," Yumiko smirked before snapping her fingers and pointing finger guns towards Chieko, stars and glitter somehow surrounding Yumiko as she winked, "I've accepted the fact that I'm fat and ugly since I was eleven!"

Chieko blinked, once then twice and then she giggled. "H-How can you say that with so much confidence?"

(' _Because it's barely true'_ ) "It's all about presentation Kobuchi, and what you have as aces up sleeves. I got a big stomach but I got even muscles!" Yumiko flexed her arms and got Chieko to laugh again.

Chieko looked at her friend with a smile, the type that made sparkles shimmer around her and little flowers to somehow appear, "I admire your confidence Yama-chan."

And Yumiko couldn't get rid of her blush nearly the rest of the lunch period.

* * *

Haruhi Fujioka really was pretty. Big doe-like eyes that were gazing at the school with a small bit of doubt, long hair that was straight as an arrow and looked to be well taken care of, she was short but that just managed to add to her cute factor. But Yumiko did blink at the middle school uniform.

She really shouldn't have though,  _of course_  Haruhi is in a middle school uniform. She was  _in_  middle school at this point! But what the hell was she doing at Ouran so early then?

Yumiko herself was hiding behind one of the trees that lined the entrance to the school. She had practically thrown herself behind it when she saw the younger girl, who thankfully was too lost in her own thoughts to notice her.

Haruhi held a small book to her chest, it looked painfully familiar and Yumiko wracked her brain to remember it. It was...it the schools admission guide!

Yumiko blinked at the girl, tilting her head to the side as she looked at her.

Haruhi Fujioka was  _there_ , right in front of her. Even with her short height she stood straight as a board as that doubt in her eyes turned into determination.

' _She's just checking out the school..._ ' Yumiko thought to herself, ' _Of course she is. I did the same thing._ '

Haruhi smiled to herself gaze suddenly switching from the school to- _SHIT_!

Pretty brown eyes meet dull brown as both looked at each other in shock, though both had different reasons.

( _"Nah I'm pretty sure I'm like, in love with Haruhi," A blonde girl says as she flips through the manga her friend had given her as a birthday present, "Hardworking enough to get into a top league school and sensible enough to see through pretty people's bullshit. I'm either in love or Haruhi is just_ everything  _I wanna be ya know?"_ )

They both looked at each other for a moment. Haruhi blinked once, then twice before her eyes traveled to the sweater and pants the other girl wore. It definitely wasn't the school uniform, but she held a school bag in her hands.

"...Are you...hiding?"

Yumiko flushed bright red as she adjusted her glasses, slowly walking out from behind the tree. "...No."

The blush quickly died as the Yumiko walked closer to the younger girl, her anxiety taking hold of her embarrassment and practically chucking it out the window. Here in front of her was  _Haruhi Fujioka_ , her role model in her preteen to early teen years in her last life (and short time crush).

Haruhi, oblivious to Yumiko's anxiety, tilted her head. "Are you the schools scholarship student?"

Yumiko was quiet for a moment before, "Yeah, but I wouldn't worry about that though," She pointed to the admission guide in Haruhi's arms, "The scholarships work by grade levels. If you're grades and test scores are high enough then you'll definitely get the scholarship for your grade."

Haruhi smiled, nodding her head before looking towards the school. "What's it like going to a school like this?"

Yumiko shifted her body staring at Ouran Academy for a short moment before letting out a small sigh and closing her eyes. "It's... _insane_  how it'll blow away any expectation you have for it."

' _But you and me will be having very different school lives,'_  Yumiko thought to herself before opening her eyes and looking down at Fujioka (and Yumiko realized with some weird glee that she was taller than Haruhi),  _'I don't think I could give any advice on just what she'll experience here...'_

"You walk in and it's like a whole other world sometimes," She flashed a smile, "And it's amazing how different the people are here. But they're all pretty okay."

Haruhi looked up at her, opened her mouth to say something-

_**BONG**_!

The two jumped, both looking up towards the schools clock tower as it rang again. While Haruhi was looking surprised at the fact the at high school had a working clock tower, Yumiko could feel her body...relax.

' _I...remember this scene...'_ Yumiko shut her eyes and focused on the slow and echoing sound of the school bell.

Scattered around both the middle and high school was every host club member, each of them looking towards the clock tower as it went off. Each of them oblivious to what the next three years of their life would be like. What the  _rest of_ their lives would be like.

' _Right now all of the host club is on school grounds…Right now...isn't everyone looking towards the bell tower?...All looking towards the same thing...'_

"Thank you."

Yumiko's eyes opened on the last loud echo of the bell, looking at Haruhi with a raised brow.

"I think I'll be able manage here but thanks for tell me about it. Now I just gotta pass the entrance exams."

Yumiko smiled (and didn't even realize all of her anxieties from before were gone! She wasn't even thinking about the fact that Haruhi Fujioka was right in front of her) and followed Haruhi on her way out of school grounds.

"Ah, don't go taking those exams lightly. They're just as tough as the admission guide is making them, and then there's the issue of keeping your place in class…"

* * *

Yumiko, laying down in her bed at home, blinked at the phone number that was now in her contacts list. The name ' _Fujioka Household_ ' still remained, no matter how many times she rubbed her eyes or flipped through her contacts. She didn't even know how she managed it! At first the duo was walking towards the train station together and by the time they got off they had exchanged contact info, with Haruhi making the promise to call her if she was having trouble preparing for her entrance exam.

" _God I'm so fucking stupid_ ," Yumiko whispered in english before turning around to scream into a pillow.

Final exams had come and gone. Chieko had spent the past week desperately studying and begging Yumiko for help with the work she didn't understand while Yumiko had spent a good chunk of her time punching and threatening Kuranosuke to try and get him to study. Yumiko had also spent plenty of nights doing late night studying and as a result her eye bags had gotten just a little worse.

Yumiko kept her spot as top of the class (though she was  _very_ nervous about just how close Haninozuka-san was to her scores) and even Chieko had higher scores but was still lower in class rank. Kura, ever the bastard, didn't tell what his scores were but judging by the number of winky emojis he had in his texts he had gotten pretty good scores.

Yumiko was ready for her first year of high school to end, ready for her second year to kick start into action so they could get to third year.

Of course things couldn't be that easy.

* * *

The book sat there, mocking her and making her feel guilty for something that wasn't her fault. Yumiko checked her phone one last time, praying she would find a text from Kura saying he was finally outside and waiting for her.

A book, a english book that Yumiko remembered would be useful in the work they were given for over the break, sat on Morinozuka-san's desk. Mocking her as she was the only one in class currently.

Yumiko pulled at her lip, weighing the options as what was worth it and what was not. It was just a simple literature book, what the hell could arise from giving it back. She knew where he was! He was attending the school years last Kendo club, which was probably nearly over by now!

Yumiko herself had stayed after because her ride had something to do after school (and she had risked getting caught texting in class to grill him about what she'd do to him if he was trying to pick another fight without her) and would be late. He'd promise they'd stop and get sushi on the way home.

So she'd wondered the school, wasting a good hour exploring the library and was absolutely delighted at just how many books there were in english. Maybe if she could stand the noise she'd spend some time after school just to try and read a bit. She eventually wandered back to class to double check that she had everything when she saw the book.

Yumiko let out a small huff, ignoring the way her red string glowed and twisted itself and glazed across her arm as she stomped over to Morinozuka-san's desk. She grabbed it and was about to walk out the door all the way to the school dojo that was used primarily for kendo. At least until-

"Yamamoto-san?"

Yumiko blinked at not only the  _very_ deep voice (which  _oooohhhhh boy he has no right_ _to have such a nice voice_ _ **and**_ _an attractive face_ ) but also the tall figure that had decided to show up. After nearly ten minutes of her internal debating. Fuckin' figures that just as she was about to be a good person and return his book, Takashi Morinozuka decides to walk in through the door.

"...Morinozuka-san..." She said, not only her tone but her entire body going stiff. Yumiko held the book up, looking at the door frame to the side him (and definitely not looking at the brightly glowing string that decided to twist itself into all little hearts as it circled around the duo), "...You left this at your desk, you should really be more careful about your stuff."

He was looking her in the eye and she was stubbornly refusing to meet his gaze.  _'Please stop looking at me please just take the book so I don't have to interact with you any more please please please.'_ He reached out and Yumiko wanted to scream when their hands actually grazed each other.

"Thank you," he said (' _DAMN YOUR ATTRACTIVE VOICE!_ ' Yumiko thought and fought to keep her expression at least somewhat empty) as he stepped out into the hallway. Yumiko, realizing it would be weird to just stand alone in an empty classroom, followed after him and the two were stuck walking side by side as they headed towards the school entrance.

"Like I said just be more careful," She said as she focused on anything and everything that wasn't the tall boy next to her.

Silence, stiff and awkward with the only kind of noise coming from their echoing footsteps as they walked through the way too big hallways. Yumiko wondered if it'd be rude or strange to just start sprinting towards the entrance. Maybe even just run all the way home and not even text Kura and just let him wait outside of the school for the next hour.

Yumiko winced when she suddenly felt a tug on her hand, she made a fist with her hand and tried to ignore the way her string was grazing her hand.

' _Stop thinking about me stop thinking about me stop thinking about me_ '

She glanced at her right hand, glaring at the little bunny eared not that was bouncing with every step she took. Her glare lessened as she realized...she'd never seen her string so small. With Morinozuka being so close, just barely a few feet away, it had shorten itself to fit in between the small space between them. Hmm...Yumiko wondered if they held hands - not that a situation where that would be necessary would ever happen - would the string just shorten into nothing or would it be large enough to circle the duo like it always did for her parents? Hmm…

"Yamamoto-san?"

She flinched before looking up, finally making eye contact with Morinozuka. He didn't say anything for a second, leaving the air as they turned a corner.

Yumiko was about to question him before, "You talked to Suoh."

She blinked. Blinked again. Then even a third time. She stopped in the hallway, still maintaining eye contact with the taller boy. He stopped and waited.

' _Eh?...Talked to-HE TOLD THEM ABOUT ME?!'_

"...I did."

Then she kept walking, breaking eye contact as she did. Morinozuka caught up easily.

"You told him about Mitsukuni."

She didn't look at him, just kept walking as she tried to figure out why on Earth they were having this conversation. Was it just the whole 'Morinozukas watch over Haninozukas' type of protectiveness? Probably.

"I did."

"Why?"

That did make her pause, albeit because she had to scramble to come up with a lie. She couldn't just outright say the truth, couldn't say it was out of anxiety that if she didn't it would ruin everything that would happen in the Host Club. The duo was important, even if they didn't have center stage like Haruhi or Tamaki or the twins or Kyoya they were still just as important. Honey needed to see that it was fine to be himself to be selfish and enjoy the sweeter things in life! Not to mention it was so annoying-

"I don't get most of you rich families and the way you all function," She plainly, making sure to make eye contact with Morinozuka, "The way you all act and treat family and others. I know that for a lot of the students here it's all about connections and who could benefit who. Even your families are a mystery to me. Maybe it's because of my upbringing but I don't understand how Haninozuka being the way he is could ever be a problem. Your clans were built around your fighting styles right?"

He nodded.

"Look, even I think Haninozuka-san is cute. Especially now that he's carrying around that little bunny. He's adorable...but I also think he's  _terrifying_." Morinozuka raised his eyebrows, looking surprised at the idea of anyone being scared of Honey.

"He's _national champ_ in karate and judo," Yumiko said noticing that they were finally getting close to the schools entrance, "I was taught to recognise people's talents, regardless of what they look like or who they are. Both of you are champs in martial arts. I see that and I respect that. But the idea of changing yourselves to fit that image. It's  _annoying_. So Haninozuka is small, who cares he could still probably take on an entire police force and walk out unscathed."

"So Suoh-san told me about his club and said that it would have a lot of sweets and cute stuff in it...I thought it might be nice if Haninozuka joined that kind of club so I told him what I knew about the situation." Yumiko finally looked away and rubbed at the back of her neck, "Look I'm not at all sorry about it. Haninozuka seems happy and I'm glad for him. Is he happier?"

Mori nodded again, and Yumiko smiled. "Ah...that's good."

They went back to silence. Yumiko wondered if she gave a satisfying answer and wondered just where all of that had come from. She definitely couldn't understand most of her peers here and while it was hard to watch Haninozuka lie about who he is it wasn't annoying. Well, okay maybe not  _that_  annoying.

All the little attempts of Haninozuka's to attempt to be manlier flashed through Yumiko's memory. All the attempts at deepening his voice and fighting off big tears and fighting back pouts.

...Okay yeah it was definitely annoying.

They reached the school doors. Yumiko stepped ahead and put a hand on the door knob.

"Yamamoto-san."

She looked back at the taller boy, a single eyebrow raised in question.

"Thank you."

…

' _Fuck your attractive voice. Fuck your attractive face. Don't go giving random girls soft looks you idiot._ ' She nodded at him before opening the door.  _'You attractive people have way too much power over ugly girls like me! Don't you know we're weak creatures?! You could kill us with those soft looks!'_

"It's not like I did anything that great," She said as she turned her back on him, "But I guess you're wel-"

"Yamamoto-san?"

**Oh for fucks sake.**

"Haninozuka-san."

Yumiko nodded at the small boy as she walked down the stairs, Morinozuka right behind her. Honey went from staring at her to Mori, he smiled (and for a split second Yumiko could have sworn she saw him  _smirk_  but what reason would he have for that? What kind of devious reason would he have for a smirk like what she thought he saw?) as he climbed up a couple steps to be next to his cousin..

"Takashi, did you get your book?"

Yumiko kept walking, not really paying all that much attention as she whipped out her phone to spam Kura with texts to get his sorry butt over here to pick her up.

"Did anything  _interesting_  happen while you were with Yamamoto-chan?"

Yumiko looked up from her phone, frowning and looking over her shoulder to try and figure out not only  _what the hell he was asking_   _about_ but why the hell was she Yamamoto- _chan_? Only Chieko had called her that because the girl was too embarrassed to call Yumiko by her first name.

Haninozuka met her frown with an adorable smile, the kind that made little flowers appear around him as he hugged his bunny.

Yumiko raised an eyebrow and rolled her eyes before looking back at her phone. ' _We're the same age and you're horrifying to me shota boy, that won't work on me._ '

"Yamamoto-chan what are you here so late after school?" Haninozuka had jumped to her side, with Morinozuka right next to him.

She raised another brow, "...My ride had something to do so he's picking me up a little late."

Haninozuka flashed another adorable smile, " _We_  could give you a ride if you want!"

She blanched, her brows scrunching up as she wondered if Haninozuka was trying to pull something here. She looked at Morinozuka to see him frowning at Haninozuka. What…?

"Uh...No no, it's fine really," She said, waving off the offer as she looked back at Haninozuka.

In the distance she could hear a loud  _vrrrrr_  and with a quick glance in the direction of the sound she saw Kura with his helmet on quickly heading towards the entrance.

"See here he comes he's just a little late and...really, really...fast?" She said, frowning as she realized Kura  _wasn't_  slowing down. She mumbled in english, " _What is that idiot doing?_ "

Morinozuka, ever the protector, had grabbed her arm and pulled her back a few steps as Kura came zooming by, before suddenly making a huge turn. Yumiko winced at the sound of the motorcycle actually leaving skid marks before parking it right in front of all three of them.

Yumiko blinked, trying hard to not to acknowledge the slightly horrified looks on the cousins faces. Mori hadn't let her go of her arm and his grip actually got  _tighter_  when Kura reached up to take off his helm-' _OH GOD WHAT THE HELL DID THAT IDIOT DO?'_

Kura took off his helmet, shaking out his hair...which was  _orange_. He dyed his hair a bright, obnoxious, orange color. He flashed a cocky smile, looking just at her and her gaping expression, before saying a simple, "Hey." He then stuck out his tongue and Yumiko realized he  _had a tongue piercing now_.

"...Hey..." Yumiko said, looking her friend up and down to try and find any new changes Kura decided to surprise her with.

Kura looked at the duo next to her, dropping his smile and raising an eyebrow at the tight hold Morinozuka had on her arm. "And you two are?"

They were on edge. Yumiko didn't completely blame either of them because not only was Kura the future of head of a gang but the little stunt he just pulled was pretty unsafe. But also the look on Kura's face wasn't helping him as he eyed the duo. He didn't like them.

Haninozuka ignored his question, "Yamamoto-chan are you sure-"

" _Chan_?! PFFTT-" Kura threw his head back and laughed the cute honorific, which helped in snapping Yumiko out of her shock. She sent him a flat look before rolling her eyes.

She tried to take a step towards Kura but Mori's grip got just a tad tighter. She looked over her shoulder, glancing at his hand as a silent 'please let me go now'. And he did, slowly. Like he was giving her chance to say something about the just who the stranger on the bike was.

"Don't mind Kura," Yumiko said, looking both cousins in the eye as she stepped away from them, "He's just an idiot that thinks he's cool."

"I  _am_ cool."

Yumiko grabbed the spare helmet and rolled her eyes. "Only in your head." She waved at her classmates and ignored the unsure look in their eyes. "...See ya in class."

And they rode off.

* * *

Her grip on his cheeks got tighter as he tried to pry her off of him, Yumiko glared at him ignoring the comically large tears that she knew for a fact were  _fake_  because that's how Kura used to get out of this when he was younger. She pulled just a little harder before letting go.

" _Owwww_! What did I do?!" Kura groaned out, rubbing at his sore cheeks after they were pulled so harshly.

"You made me wait  _two hours_  at school just so you could get your hair dyed and get another piercing?!" Yumiko scolded him not looking at him as she grabbed her chopsticks.

"Yes and I made a  _fantastic_  entrance which you, shortie, and giant didn't even acknowledge." He pouted.

Yumiko glared at him as she grabbed another piece of sushi. "Yeah and thanks to that entrance you freaked out my classmates."

"Who were those guys anyway?" Kura asked through a mouthful of food.

"Classmates...You remember the guy I caught at the school festival?"

Kura choked on his food, coughing just a bit before throwing his head back and laughing. Yumiko hated the embarrassed blush she felt rising on her cheeks.

She ate in silence, ignoring some of the looks other customers were giving Kura as he laughed to his heart's content.

"N-No wonder you're so upset! Ha! You get stuck talking to him before I showed up?" Kura asked after his laugh session.

Yumiko explained the situation. The  _entire_ situation from Honey's cute act to Tamaki's recruitment and then to conversation with Mori. Kura listened, completely quiet and just kept to eating as she spilled her guts and bits of anxiety over the situation.

"Hmm...Well it's clear ya did a good thing," He said before popping another piece of sushi in his mouth, "So what's all the anxiety about?"

Yumiko scratched her cheek, eyeing the piece of sushi between her chopsticks before sighing. This was a question she couldn't fully explain to Kura and she hated it. "Just...don't wanna interact with them guess?"

"Ah, understandable. You never did like dealing with people who got crushes on you."

She choked. She coughed and banged on her chest to help before gaping at Kura. "Excuse me?!"

"...What? Big guy has a crush on you doesn't he?" Kura asked, genuine confusion on his face.

"N-NO! What-what gave you that idea?"

He shrugged, "You're a strong girl and when you come from a family who's known for their martial arts abilities I figured he might appreciate that. Plus you helped out his cousin who he clearly cares about. Makes sense."

"We've never talked before today!"

"Ooohhhh so now you got the mysterious edge to you! See, so now if things don't work out with the girl you got Morinozuka as a rebound!"

Yumiko glared at him. "Say those words again or anything like them and I'll stuff your chopsticks down your throat."

He dropped the conversation.

* * *

Kura dropped her off a block away from her house. Yumiko would probably tell Gramps everything the second she could and she wasn't quite in the mood for that conversation yet. So she just hung around Kura's bike, ignoring the blank look on his face as she tried to lose herself in her thoughts.

"...You really think it looks lame?"

She raised her eyebrow. She knew he was trying to distract her.

"The hair and the piercing! I...thought they looked cool!" He pouted.

Yumiko snorted rolling her eyes and taking the bait. "The hair looks obnoxious...so I guess it suits you."

"Yumi!" He whined, "Come on admit it! You think I look amazing."

"Not even in your dreams."

" _Yuummiiiiii!_ "

"Ha!"

…

"The piercing looks pretty cool though."

"Ha! See I knew you would! I've been thinking we could get more over the break!"

School ended, vacation came, and then vacation went. Yumiko had finished her homework early on, helped Chieko through bits of the vacation (and  _yes_  the mansion Chieko lived in had left her gaping as she was reminded Chieko was just as rich in Ouran), and Yumiko had laughed at Kura when he had to spend the last few days of break doing homework. She even got a few calls from Haruhi (who yes she did help with preparing for her entrance exam).

Yumiko started her second year of highschool at Ouran Academy and she was delighted to hear the rumor mill gossip about a certain new club.

The Ouran Highschool Host Club was officially open for business.


	4. Chapter 4

' _It's a cliche in shounen manga,_ ' Yumiko thinks to herself as she looks at the mess her sister had accidentally caused. Kujo stood in front of her, pushing her pointer fingers together and not making eye contact. Even if her face held the same empty expression, there was the smallest bit of red on her cheeks. She was definitely embarrassed.

"So...you positive this stuff will stain?"

Yumiko had her arms crossed over her chest and a frown on her face. She sighed through her nose when her sister only nodded her head.

' _Post whatever kind of time skip or break, characters show up with a whole new design and skills.'_ Yumiko bites her lip as she looks at the horribly stained sweater that laid on her bed. Fake blood covered the entire front of her personal school uniform and was slowly seeping through to the back.

Yumiko pushes her glasses up her nose before turning around and heading towards her closet. She had to have something she could wear tomorrow right?  _Right_?

"...I'm sorry..." Kujo whispers, lowering her head so her bangs would cover her eyes.

Yumiko only glanced over her shoulder before giving a small 'hmm'. She rooted around her closet another few seconds before grabbing something. She inspected the sweater vest before nodding and headed back towards Kujo.

"It'll be fine, don't worry too much about it. New school year new look," Yumiko assured before ruffling her sister's hair. She grabbed the stained sweater and shoved it towards her sister, "But  _you_  have to clean this."

Yumiko flashed a quick smile before throwing the sweater up in the air and Kujo was quick to grab it. She blanched at the idea of trying to wash the sweater but headed out of Yumiko's room anyway.

"Wait!" Yumiko called out just as Kujo was about to leave. Empty black eyes met dull brown and Yumiko flashed another quick smile. "No more bringing in fake blood to my room, sis. No matter how cool the recipe is."

Kujo puffed her cheeks before grumbling out a small 'fine' and walking out of the room. Yumiko was left to her thoughts as she tried to put together a good enough new 'uniform'.

' _Even if it's a shounen cliche, this is_ shoujo  _manga. Characters don't always get new designs unless they go through some major character development...Hmm...'_

Yumiko glanced at herself in the mirror. Her lip unconsciously curled.

' _Then again, if the laws of shoujo manga are trying to give me a new look at least it would explain why my hair has gotten to so long in the past few days.'_

Her messy hair went from reaching her shoulders (with some strands standing this way and that), to somehow reach the center of her back (with some strands standing this way and that). She's mostly been keeping it in a low ponytail. At least her new piercings were nice! Two more were on her right ear.

She dragged her eyes away from the mirror. New school year new look. Second year would be fine. (Her string was glowing and dancing around her and, even if he couldn't see, Takashi Morinozuka had the same string)

* * *

There was a small part of Yumiko that was somewhat  _grateful_  about the fact that the Host Club had at least raised  _some_  eyebrows from the school staff. There were some rumors about this Sensei and that Sensei confronting the chairmen with some questions on just  _what_ the point of the club was or what exactly the chairmen's son was doing in starting this club.

The adult side of Yumiko, the woman who died in her early twenties and was shoved in the very back of Yumiko's mind and was buried under all sorts of existential questions (and was only ever purposefully looked at when she was digging up old memories or needed help in studying), would be raising an eyebrow at the idea of Host Club if she didn't know so much about the club.

Really though the idea of a club all about the most handsome ( _and richest/heavily influential/just plain scary to have against you_ ) guys in schools chatting up and flirting a good chunk of the female population of a  _high class_  school ( _and making connections as it happens_ ) should have ended up being frowned at from the upper class of Japan ( _and those handful from out of it_ ).

But this was anime.  _Shoujo_  anime at that.

So of course by the end of the first three weeks of second year, things just...quieted down.

Yumiko figured there were probably those stiff and more traditional teachers who were just biting their tongue (then again Tamaki had probably won over most of the female teachers and staff by now).

Yumiko, who was happily enjoying spending her second year of high school with Chieko and Kura and the handful of acquaintances inside and out of Ouran, was happily watching things from the sidelines. She listened to the little bits and pieces of gossips she heard (being in Ouran really had turned her into a gossip hound, huh?) and Chieko would tell her what she heard.

Though to be honest, the only reason Chieko hadn't dragged her over to the Host Club by now was the sheer embarrassment she had at the idea of facing Haninozuka. Her crush on the boy was still going strong. (Chieko's string always straighten itself out and lowered itself a tiny bit every time Haninozuka was mentioned...but it always got right back up seconds later)

The first month of school had practically flown by (maybe it was the wonky timeline or maybe Yumiko was just too busy) with nearly no interaction with any Host Club member or anyone of plot significance.

Though it's not like Haninozuka hadn't spent those last few days of first year trying.

The day after the small incident he had happily ran up to Yumiko in the hallway with an absolutely  _adorable_ smile on his face as he asked her about yesterday.

"So who was that guy  _Yama-chan_?" He asked, flowers and sparkles had somehow surrounded him and Yumiko had to actually look away from the boy because of just how  _blinding_  those sparkles were.

Yumiko had glanced up at Mori, raising an eyebrow as they made eye contact. He had a strangely...determined (...?) look on his face as he waited for her answer. "Kura's a really good friend Haninozuka-san. He just gives me a ride to school so I don't have to take the train and walk to school," She winced before continuing, "I'm sorry about what you saw yesterday, he's just... _really_ reckless."

Then in those last few days, he would happily run up to her, with Morinozuka right behind him, and try to start a conversation which would only last a few minutes with Yumiko only responding with nods or small sentences. Then she'd slip out of the conversation either by rushing into their classroom and with class starting or however she could.

("Yama-chan! You must be super smart to be a scholarship student!"

"I guess so, thanks." She opened her book and went back to reading.

"Yama-chan do you like sweets? You can eat with me and Takashi and share cake!"

"Oh it's okay I'm eating with Kobuchi-kun." She walked in the opposite direction of the cafeteria.

"Yama-chan you can call me Honey if you want!"

"Ah...No thanks...")

First year ended second year started and they were back to not at all talking. Haninozuka was now too busy talking with customers or classmates during class. He did wave to her in the mornings though (and Yumiko was more than content with their interaction ending there).

Morinozuka though…Nothing changed with Morinozuka. He barely talked during Haninozuka's attempts at conversations and instead of waving at her in the mornings she got a nod in her direction. There were those few moments in class, when he was surrounded by classmates who were mostly talking to Haninozuka (there were always those few braver girls who would try and start a conversation with the silent host and honestly hats off to those girls), where they'd make eye contact and Yumiko would give an awkward smile and curt wave before talking to Chieko or focusing on a book she snagged from the library (again Yumiko would be  _more_ than content with just that much interaction).

Nothing changed with their stupid red string.

It still floated in the air, twisting and curling and forming all sorts of little hearts. Sometimes it would graze across Yumiko's hand and she figured Mori was thinking about her. Then there would be those few times when it would swim across her vision and if she was lucky she'd glance up just in time to see Morinozuka quickly focus back on the lesson (and  _oh man_  the idea of Takashi Morinozuka staring at her during class was enough to make her already blotchy red face get even redder -  _damn his attractiveness_ ).

* * *

While the first month of school flew by, it was the second that was stubbornly sticking around. Literally.

Yumiko, who had spent a good chunk of the night studying ( _cramming_ ) for a history test, wanted to groan when she saw that she'd woken up to the calendar saying it was the middle of the month. For the third time.

"Honestly there's no big holiday coming up so why the hell do I have to go through this  _again_ ," Yumiko grumbled as she trudged to Kura's, "We barely even got to the end of the month the second time!"

Honestly, Yumiko was just looking to complain about something. So complain she did. She cursed about not getting as much sleep as normal. She complained about how that was probably making her terrible eyebags even  _worse_. She complained about stupid inconsistent time that didn't make much sense because stupid shoujo manga had to never make any logical sense.  _Uggghhhhh_.

She kept grumbling and complaining until she'd gotten to Kuranosuke's, where one of the men who had known Yumiko since her and Kura were children was kind enough to give her some coffee.

What a kind man.

Y'know, for yakuza.

"What's got you in a mood?" Kura had asked when she finally dragged him out of his room.

He snagged her coffee from her and took a quick sip before giving it back. She punched him in the arm and glared. Jerk.

"The months just feels like it's taking forever," Yumiko complained, a pout on her face before she took a big gulp of coffee.

"Eh," Kura shrugged as he tossed her a helmet, "No more than it normally does."

* * *

"You  **useless commoner** ," the girl in front of Chieko shrieked, looking dry as ever while Yumiko's sweater vest had nearly gotten soaked, "Do you have any idea as to how close you were to ruining my uniform?!"

Yumiko, who was more focused on mourning the loss of her coffee, could only raise her brow at the girl. Yumiko was momentarily happy - despite her exhaustion she had gotten to school early enough to have run into Chieko and the two were happily chatting about this and that. They turn a corner and Yumiko bumps into Ms. Stereotypical-Rich-Girl.  _Somehow_  during their crash, Yumiko ends up spilling her coffee all over the floor while Ms. Needs-To-Stop-Screaming is completely dry.

At least the halls were empty enough to not cause a scene.

Chieko was hiding behind Yumiko, shaking as she gripped her friend's shoulders and tried to avoid eye contact from the screaming girl. Poor, shy Chieko had jumped and hid behind her friend when the screaming girl opened her big mouth.

Something about the girl seemed...familiar. Red hair, straight posture, pretty eyes, clearly held herself like she was above everyone else. Maybe Yumiko would care more if she got the chance to finish that coffee. That amazing coffee that was not too bitter and just a little too sweet and wasn't all that hot. And now it was a puddle on the floor.

"Oh you  _imbecile_ are you even listening to-?"

"Do I know you?" Yumiko asked with a tilt of her head, voice calm as ever.

The screaming girl blinked, once and then twice before her pretty mouth twisted into an ugly snarl and she opened her mouth to scream again before-

"Oi! Kobuchi-kun do I know her?" Yumiko twisted her head as far back as she could to try and get a look at her friend. Yumiko ignored the girls face as it slowly turned red from anger. Someone has a temper.

Chieko jumped at the sudden attention before carefully peeking over her friend's shoulder. She flinched when she met the eyes of screaming girl, before going back to hiding. "Yama-chan," Chieko whispered, "Th-That's  _Emiko Ayanokoji_. S-She's in our class."

Yumiko scrunched her brow and bit at her lip. She hummed and ignored the insulted look Ayanokoji-san had. (How  _dare_  a  _commoner_  like Yumiko forget her?)

Emiko Ayanokoji. That sounded familiar enough...Emiko….Ayanokoji...Ayano...koji….

_Oh!_

Yumiko snapped her fingers before pointing at the pretty face of the side character from the-what? First episode was it? Yeah, definitely the first episode.

"I  _do_ know you!"

Yumiko walked around Ayanokoji. Chieko was quick to run after her.

They beat her too homeroom and Yumiko was left being annoyed about how close she was to ruining another set of clothes. It was fine though, she reminded herself. The white shirt, sweater vest, and pink necktie were alright.

When classes started Yumiko caught herself eyeing the rows up and down, trying to hunt down that long red hair that belonged to the not-at-all-famous Ayanokoji. Who's first name was Emiko? (In the back of her mind Yumiko wondered what characters were used for her name. Smiling child didn't exactly make sense for her, but something like beauty or pretty  _definitely_  suited her)

Yumiko spotted her. Across the room, in the row right next to Haninozuka and Morinozuka at the very front.

Ayanokoji, maybe getting the feeling someone was watching her, looked back and they made eye contact. She glared before looking away.

Yumiko hummed before focusing back on her school work.

* * *

The hard truth of the matter is that  _everyone_  in the Host Club was an idiot. Yes.  _Everyone_. Kyoya is half an exception though, Yumiko decides as she stays hidden behind a corner. Definitely an idiot like the rest of them but at least better at hiding it.

_A certain tall host on the other hand..._

Yumiko winces when she hears another loud slam as Morinozuka trips  _again_.

' _Something that's incredibly easy to forget is that Takashi Morinozuka is, in fact, kind of stupid.'_

Yumiko scolded herself for that thought, shaking her head as she peeked behind the corner to see the tall boy slowly pick himself up.

Maybe that was too harsh of a word? Or maybe it wasn't harsh enough? Or maybe it's not what should be used to describe in the first place. Then what was a good way to describe him?

Empty headed? (No, he may always be thinking about food but at least that's something) Robotic? (...maybe) Overly critical of himself? (Oh another big maybe) Unfocused? No.

Takashi Morinozuka was a very focused boy. He was practically Haninozuka's guard dog so of course he had to be aware of what's going on. He was smart too, given his place in class. His last name was clue enough that he was also incredibly strong. Yumiko scrunched her brow as she forced herself to dig up all her old memories about the manga. He was caring... Smart, observant, strong, incredible with animals. Handsome too.  _Damn_  Morinozuka really was the full package huh?

Yumiko shook her head, shoving that thought away and not looking at it again.

_**Slam**_.

Yumiko winced at the sight of Morinozuka tripping.  _Again_. The poor boy could barely walk two steps without tripping and he was going to be late to club activities like this.

Her lip curled slightly, but her conscious beat out the idea of turning around and walking away.

" _Oi_!" Yumiko said as she quickly walked to the boy's side in order to help him up, "Morinozuka, you alright?"

The boy looked up, only staring at her before nodding with a small grunt. He looked away from her, ignoring the offered hand and got up on his own.

She scrunched up her brow, her lip curling lightly as she squinted at the boy. Well, that was kind of rude... "Ah well...is everything okay? You uh...you don't seem like the type to trip over themself like this."

He brushed himself off, only sending Yumiko a glance before trying to walk again, "I'm fi-HNG!"

What would have been Morinozuka's fourth time tripping (and dang this time the guy barely made one step) had been stopped by Yumiko, whose grip on his arm tightened before pulling him up. She didn't let go of his arm. Yumiko raised a brow, making sure to hold eye contact in order to try and gauge out  _something_ from Morinozuka's empty expression.

Yumiko was pointedly ignoring her string, ignoring the way it bounced and circled the two as they were locked in the stare off Yumiko had caused.

"...So what's your problem?" Yumiko sighed and let go of his arm (her red string just barely tugged at her, wanting her to go back to holding on to him). She folded her arms and sent him a flat look.

"Nothings wrong, I'm fine," he assured.

Yumiko opened her mouth, ready to make a comment and bother the boy about his problem before clamping her mouth. She frowned, trying to dig up old memories and piece together everything she'd witnessed when she was hiding around the corner.

"...Well if you're fine that's great," Yumiko said with a shrug, before walking around the taller boy, "But that girl you completely rejected definitely isn't."

She glanced back, eyelids lowered and brows raised. They were back to staring in silence. Morinozuka, who hadn't moved because he definitely wasn't in the right headspace to try, met her gaze head on. There was a shift somewhere though, something in Morinozuka's eyes showed up and Yumiko was quick to point it out.

"So it's the guilt huh?"

Yumiko turned around, her hands behind her back as she leaned on her heels. A frown was no on the handsome boys face as he turned his head and broke their stare off. Yumiko hummed.

It was an accident. If Yumiko knew that right around the corner was a girl attempting to confess her feelings to Morinozuka, then she would have stayed far away and walked to one of the schools many other libraries. But she didn't know. When Yumiko rounded the corner and saw a girl nervously fiddling with her hands as she loudly stuttered out a confession, she had paused for barely a nanosecond before throwing herself into hiding.

She had stayed out of anxiety, not sure if she had been spotted or if leaving would be too loud. She stayed and managed to hear the poor girl get a surprisingly rude rejection. As in she got silence.

Which while yeah, the tallest host was quiet practically all the time he definitely wasn't the type to just say nothing when someone who was clearly dying of nerves. The girl ended up tearing up and running off and Yumiko was almost tempted to run off and comfort the poor girl. Instead, she stayed rooted to the spot, very uncomfortable and not sure what to do.

It wasn't until she'd head the sound of the tall boy trip over himself did she come back to reality. Skip a few minutes and weird stare offs and here we are.

Takashi Morinozuka was a good person, an incredibly good person that doesn't just go off and make girls cry. Yumiko dug at her old memories, praying that she remembered everything well enough. The only time that she could recall Morinozuka acting like this was when-

"So are you trying to get her to hate you or something?"

He didn't exactly flinch, maybe tensed up would be the better word for the suddenly rigid stance Morinozuka had.

Yumiko took a step closer, hands still behind her back, "Soooooo," she stretched out the word before trying to look him in the eye, "I take it I'm right?"

Silence.

Whether it was a stubborn attempt to keep his mouth shut about being caught or maybe it was just his silent nature, Morinozuka didn't say anything. Yumiko was left bouncing on her heels and pulling at her fingers while she switched between looking at Morinozuka and the walls of the hallway.

Maybe it was seconds or maybe it was minutes (with the weirdly tense atmosphere Yumiko wasn't sure) but eventually, Yumiko gave an annoyed sigh before walking up to Morinozuka.

"Look," Yumiko said as tried to make long strides towards the older boy, "You can barely take two steps Morinozuka-san and you're  _definitely_  late to your club activities. I have too good of a conscious to just turn around and act like you won't end up falling down some stairs on your way to your club that's on the  _third floor_. Just...say what's going on."

Silence.

Yumiko imagined the comical tick mark appearing on her forehead as she crossed her arms. ' _Just tell me what's wrong asshole!_ '

She sighed before poking the taller boys chest, " _Morinozuka,_ " She seethed, "Haninozuka is probably wondering where you are, you can't walk because you're guilty conscious somehow leaves you immobile, and my conscious will have me worrying about you if I walk away. You're holding both of us up and worrying your cousin, just  _tell me what's wrong_."

He let out a sigh through his nose before finally looking at her. "...She's not the first one to confess..." He reluctantly said before going quiet once again.

"And?"

"...She won't be the last..."

Yumiko raised an eyebrow before gesturing for him to continue.

"...I don't want to hurt them."

Yumiko almost blanched at that. Not at the fact that Morinozuka didn't want to hurt anyone, no that was a nice enough thing to want. But more so for the fact that things finally clicked and boy was it stupid.

Yumiko poked his chest again, and without really thinking she said, "You're an idiot."

He flinched, surprised at the blunt tone. Yumiko poked him again, "You're an idiot if you thought anything you just did was working."

Yumiko stepped back and pointed towards him. "Morinozuka, you're  _attractive_  and in a  _host club_. I don't even go anywhere near that club but I have a pretty good idea at what goes on in there and let me tell you this- girls walking up to you to tell you they like you is  _inevitable_. And the sad truth is, once you get in that situation there's no way to get out of it without hurting them," Yumiko folded her arms, "At least rejection is an  _answer_. Telling them you can't accept their feelings is better than just staring at them as they stew in their own anxieties. I get it you're not the talkative type but  _still_."

Yumiko let out a sigh, closing her eyes and scrunching up her eyebrows. "Be honest Morinozuka- just tell them you don't like them in that way. It will hurt, it'll hurt you and it'll hurt her but it's infinitely better than saying nothing."

"How do you know?"

Yumiko's eyes snapped open, and grey met brown once again. There was something Morinozuka's voice, a weird sort of...not desperation but sort of...clarification maybe? He wanted to know that those girls would be fine even after getting hurt.

"Take it from someone who's gotten rejected plenty of times," ( _Granted most if not all of those rejections were from a time when she wasn't Yumiko_ ) Yumiko said with a shrug, "And someone who has actually had to do the rejecting." ( _Again mostly from a time when she wasn't Yumiko)_

Yumiko tried to smile, a small and bitter smile, "You can't  _not_  hurt someone in this scenario Morinozuka. It's...horrible but its the truth."

They were back to silence, Morinozuka stewing over Yumiko's rant and Yumiko mentally scolding herself for going on such a long rant. She was tugging at her lip as she was getting lost in thought  _'I overdid it, definitely overdid it oh jeez this is fucking embarrassing - shit did Morinozuka always have a problem with girls confessing? I know around Valentines Day he at least accepts their chocolate right? But outside of that what did he-'_

"Thank you."

Yumiko flinched and her hand shot away from her mouth, she blinked once before she comprehended the small smile on Morinozuka's face. Just like last year, he held such a soft look on his handsome and it made her cheeks heat up.

She forced an awkward smile, waving off his thanks with an awkward chuckle. "Yeah yeah yeah, you're welcome and all that. Now," she put one hand on her hip and pointed behind her with her thumb, "Get going Morinozuka-san. You have a club you need to get to."

"Mori."

The smile dropped, "What?"

He ruffled her hair (and she  _definitely_  didn't like it  _definitely definitely_ _ **definitely**_ _didn't like it_ ), still with that very soft smile, "Call me Mori."

"...Pft-" with a hand over her mouth, Yumiko shook her head before meeting his handsome eyes one more time, "No thanks Morinozuka."

She flashed a small smile before walking around him, "Now, I have an overdue library book I have to return and you  _really_ need to get to your club." She waved without turning around to look back at him, "See you in class Morinozuka-san."

Yumiko could hear his footsteps walking down the hallway, not once tripping on his way. (And maybe- just  _maybe_  she heard a small chuckle…)

* * *

_Grandfather happily bit into the badly made onigiri, his eyes closed as the duo watched the very bad soap opera together. Yumiko, six years old at the time, was more focused on her grandfather's face. A frown was on her face as she stared intently, slowly she took a big bite of her onigiri._

_Gramps raised an eyebrow, head tilting in Yumiko's direction and the two ended up being caught in a weird stare off._

" _...You gonna say somethin' kid?" He asked and somehow a small question mark appeared above his head before disappearing. Yumiko squinted._

_Her tiny hand shot out and pointed at Grandfather's eyes. The man flinched at how close the kid came to stabbing his eye._

" _How do you see?" Yumiko asked with complete seriousness. A determined frown on her chubby, childish face._

" _...With my eyes." Grandfather replied with a raised eyebrow._

_A small tick mark appeared on Yumiko's cheek, "But your eyes are always closed!"_

_Grandfather was silent for a moment. He carefully grabbed Yumiko's hand and lowered it before grabbing his chin. He hummed, thinking things over before nodding._

" _I suppose they are." He took another bite out of his onigiri._

_Yumiko puffed out her cheeks and curled her lip, she huffed before crossing her arms and went back to watching TV._

" _Aw come on kid, don't get so upset about something like that," Grandfather tried to joke, "I can even hear with my ears and smell with my nose. Oh! And if I touch things with my fingers I-"_

" _It doesn't make sense."_

_Grandfather went silent as he realized Yumiko was actually starting to tear up. He bent down to try and get a better look at Yumiko's face._

" _Kid...Yumiko what's wrong?" He asked softly, slowly wrapping an arm around his granddaughter._

" _...It doesn't make sense..._ Nothing _makes sense!" Yumiko threw up her arms and snapped her head towards the older man who was in the exact same situation she was in, "Your eyes are always closed and you can see perfectly fine, little hearts appear around Mom and Dad nearly every day, Kujo can't enter a room without physically dragging in a dark aurora! I nearly drowned yesterday because Kuranosuke Hashira was crying an actual fountain of tears!" Tears were forming as Yumiko ran her hands through her hair before pulling at roughly at whatever locks she had in her hands._

_Grandfather was quick to grab her hands, forcing her to let go of her hair. He whispered in her ear, telling her to calm down and breathe._

" _It doesn't make sense! Nothing here makes any sense and I_ hate  _it!" She seethed as grandfather wrapped his arms around her. "All of this stuff shouldn't be possible yet it is and nobody questions it."_

" _No one questions it because here all of this stuff is possible kid."_

_Yumiko pulled away slightly in order to look at her grandfather's face. "How can_ you _not question it?"_

_He actually laughed at that. "I don't question it because I'm an old man who's already spent decades living with weird effects that make no sense. Yumiko," Grandfather said before ruffling her hair in an attempt to lighten the mood, "In this life, I was born with my eyes liked this. No one questioned it, hell sometimes I forgot that they are closed. "_

_Grandfather's smile dropped slightly, "People don't question what they've known all their lives, and anything you may think is normal isn't for people here. We're the strange ones, remember?" He ruffled her hair one more time, "You get used to it, you adjust to it, and eventually you stop questioning it. In fact, I've only opened my eyes a handful of times in this lifetime because of how used to it I am."_

_Yumiko scrunched up her face before wrapping her arms around her grandfather._

" _I don't like it."_

_He chuckled, "Do you want me to open them?"_

" _...No."_

_He chuckled again._

" _...I act more childish too," Yumiko mumbled, "I'm nearly in my thirties and I'm throwing a temper tantrum."_

" _Yumiko Yamamoto is only six years old," Grandfather said as he slowly pulled away from Yumiko, "Whoever you were before isn't really around anymore. Do you remember_ everything _from your last life?"_

_Yumiko hesitated before shaking her head._

" _Exactly, all that stuff is locked away somewhere up here," he tapped her on the head, "so you may have bits and pieces of your old life but right now you're Yumiko. A temperamental six-year-old with far too many existential questions."_

_Yumiko stuck out her tongue before her she frowned again. She glanced at her hand, at the limp string the sat pathetically next to her. She shook her head before leaning on her grandfather._

" _One more question."_

_Grandfather raised a brow._

" _Has Grandma ever seen your eyes?"_

* * *

She let out of a puff of air, smiling at the sight of her breath being visible in the cold air. With a large coat wrapped around her, earmuffs, and a scarf wrapped around her neck, Yumiko casually walked towards the school gates. Kura had actually woken up early to not only drive to her place but to also make sure she actually remembered to wear stuff that would actually keep her warm. Even when he was dropping her off he'd lightly punched her arm told her to stay warm and get out of the cold quick. His doting was appreciated, considering all the times the two had gotten sick from running around outside in the cold and not wearing enough layers.

There had been another shift in the world and the weather went from slowly easing off the summer heat to throwing them all in the middle of winter. But it was fine, the possibility of snow and seeing her breathe in the cold air kept Yumiko somewhat positive. Appreciate the small things and all that.

Now Yumiko just wished she could keep that positive attitude.

She leisurely walked through the gates, actually waving at the one or two classmates that waved at her.

A new problem had arisen. A problem she definitely saw coming.

"Yama-chan!" Chieko yelled out from behind her.

Yumiko paused, turning slightly with a small smile on her face, as Chieko rushed towards her. Yumiko eyed the fancy looking coat that probably cost more than her house but definitely looked warm. Rich people and their money…

"Are you ready for la-later Yama-chan?" Chieko asked with an excited grin.

And that was the problem.

Yumiko grinned (it was tight and strained but Chieko was to excited to really care), "'Course, might actually be fun."

And the two started to chatter about this and that like they always did if they met up before homeroom. And when classes started Yumiko silently prayed that classes would take an eternity. All because-

_(Yumiko was used to keeping her jealousy in check (in both her first and second life it seemed she'd experienced her fair share of jealousy), especially when it came to stubborn little crushes. Those pesky little emotions that would cling to her heart and bother her frequently, no matter how hard she'd kick them down and bury them under all sorts of other problems._

_But damnit people were cute and Yumiko was just a bisexual disaster of a person who thought it was very unfair that her closest friend in Ouran had the most adorable giggle she'd ever heard. Or that every time she gave such a genuine smile, glitter and sparkles would appear because Chieko was just so cute. Or when she got passionate about something and it was like a new person came out of nowhere and her stutter simply disappeared as she ranted about what was on her mind. Or-_

_Chieko had her hand over her mouth as she tried to keep her squeal in check. She giggled and tried to stutter out some kind of statement. She failed._

_Yumiko, on the other hand, was biting the inside of her cheek. She kept her head down as she kept her gaze on the history book in front of her. It was by pure luck she guessed the right answer on the last history test, she needed to be more positive on her answers for the next one (plus she has an excuse to not see Chieko gushing over-)_

" _Eeeeee he's just so cute don't you think so Yama-chan?" Chieko giggled, oblivious to the tick marks that were forming on Yumiko's head._

" _Absolutely adorable."_

" _Oh, and I heard that the host club started doing_ cosplay _at some of their meetings and Honey looked so cute in his!"_

" _Uh huh." When did she start calling him Honey? Ughh, not like any of them were actually all that close._ _ **Whatever. Who cares who cares who cares.**_

" _Oh and I even heard that the Host Club may be planning some kind of event around Christmas and ooohhhh it sounds so fun!"_

" _Sounds great Kobuchi."_

_She was barely paying attention now. Giving casual 'uh-huhs', 'yeah greats', and a couple 'sures' as Yumiko tried to focus on her book._

" _Ah! Really Yama-chan?!" And suddenly Yumiko had two skinny arms wrapped around her shoulders as Chieko giggled about how excited she was. Yumiko blinked, before turning her head towards Chieko and trying to comprehend what she was squealing about._

" _This'll be so much fun Yama-chan! According to Hato-chan first time guests get to make an appointment for free so you don't have to worry about paying, b-but if we wanna go again then I could always pay for you!"_

_Yumiko scrunched up her face in confusion, blinking at Chieko's excitement before forcing on a tight smile._

_Homeroom ended. Class started. It was midway through first period before Yumiko suddenly sat up straighter with a look of horror on her face._

'I AGREED TO GO TO THE HOST CLUB. _ **SHIT**_ _!')_

All because she let her stupid jealousy get to her! ( _Stupid stupid stupid stupid!_ )

* * *

Takashi Morinozuka knew he wasn't in love. Calling it a crush or anything like that was a pretty big stretch as well. ...Infatuated? No that definitely wasn't right. Maybe….curious? Yeah, that sounded better.

He was just curious about Yumiko Yamamoto.

He didn't pay much attention to her before the school festival, outside of the occasional times they'd made eye contact they never talked or really had any reason to interact with each other. She used to stare at him, nothing more than a few seconds and always with a sort...contemplative look on her face. As if she looked at him and his cousin and tried to understand what they were doing.

" _I don't get most of you rich families and the way you all function," She had finally said after such a long pause. Her brow was crinkled as she kept eye contact like she was determined to make something clear to him._

Then the school festival happened and somehow he had  _slipped_  and somehow she caught him. He'd thought of that moment too many times to count, cringing and rubbing at his temples as he thought of how he must have looked. She held him  _easily_ , not at all winded by his bigger frame or heavyweight but she was still  _horrified_ \- just as horrified as he was - when she looked at his parents and at all the people that were around them and then-

" _You should be more careful Morinozuka-san." It was the first thing she'd ever said to him, and she said it with such an empty expression._

She scolded him and left him to the embarrassment of his father's bewildered looks and his mothers delighted giggles at his heavily blushing face.

" _Takashi who was that girl?" Mother asked him later that night and she laughed when his face went red from embarrassment._

He had his own little questions that he'd mull over whenever he was lost in thought and he'd have no choice but to come up with his own answers.

Just how strong was that girl?  _Very_  was always his conclusion.

What exactly had she said to Tamaki? What were her full reasons to telling him about Mitsukuni? " _It's annoying._ " Those words popped into his head whenever he was mulling over his questions, wondering if that was it. Was the idea of Mitsukuni being so unlike himself really that upsetting to the girl? Why though? Why say anything when she had been so determined to avoid them - which yes he was well aware of.

...Why avoid them? She was so distant, so unresponsive to Mitsukuni's attempts at making conversation and he wondered what the reason was. What it  _could_  be that bothered her so much.

And then his mind wandered to other places. Maybe a little more dangerous places and questions that he didn't like worrying over as much. ( _She showed up one day with bandages on her face and her hands wrapped up and claiming she had nearly gotten mugged. Did that mean she lived somewhere dangerous? Was she safe in her own home? But she was strong, she had enough muscle to easily lift_ _ **him**_ _meaning she must be able to somewhat defend herself. Right? But then there was that boy, the one who drove in reeking of danger and setting every last one of Takashi's protective instincts into overdrive._ _ **That**_ _guy drove her to school everyday. Was he safe? He definitely didn't seem like it._ )

Yumiko Yamamoto made him wonder. Made him almost get lost in thought.

Ofcourse Mitsukuni noticed. Granted he came to a terrible conclusion because he noticed.

* * *

" _Takashi? Are you interested in Yamamoto-san?" The question came up after a long session of shared training at the manors dojos. Takashi choked on the water he was drinking and really did try to keep his blushing to a minimum._

_Mitsukuni_ giggled _at this embarrassment before moving closer. The cousins sat by each other, with Mitsukuni waiting for the taller boy to stop coughing._

" _N-Not," He choked out, "Not in the way you're suggesting."_

_He smiled at that before looking away, thinking over whatever he was about to say. "...She seems so weird don't you think? Wanting to help people she doesn't even know...she must be kind."_

…

" _Maybe."_

_He giggled again, looking back up at him with a smile on his face. "You don't think she's nice Takashi?"_

_He frowned at that, wondering what his cousin was trying to achieve out of this conversation. "I'm not saying that."_

" _...I think I'd like to be friends with Yamamoto-san. Maybe she'll visit the Host Club when it starts," His smile twisted into a teasing look, "You might be able to talk to her then Takashi."_

_His glare did nothing but make Mitsukuni laugh. And then they were silent._

" _Takashi, you stare at her in class sometimes." And Takashi was back to blushing._

_Any defense he could have made was stopped by the soft voice asking, "'Her'? What's this I hear about a 'her'?" And Takashi's mother walked in and any talk about Yumiko Yamamoto was dropped._

* * *

Mitsukuni was wrong. He wasn't interested in the way he was clearly suggesting. Curious was the word for it because he had so many questions that he would love better answers for.

But being friends sounded nice ( _maybe then she would call him Mori_ ).

It was that thought in mind, did Takashi perk up at the sight of Yumiko Yamamoto walking into the clubs door with Chieko Kobuchi. From the little bit he knows about the shy girl, she was definitely one of his cousin's fans. It made sense that the two would end up at his and Mituskuni's shared table.

The idea was further solidified when Yumiko looked away from her conversation with Kyoya (discussing who the duo would designate, discussing how the next they came they would have to charge, etc.) and they stared at each other.

For Takashi, those weird moments of eye contact were sudden. They felt longer than they actually were and he felt as if he was missing something. Like...maybe Yamamoto knew something that he didn't, that he never would.

She always looked away first.

This time was no different. She looked down, frowning at her hands before looking back at Kyoua (She did that a lot, fiddling with her hands like she was pulling at something or even glaring at her palms). She said something and then the two girls were walking.

They walked past Takashi and Mituskuni's table.

They sat at Kaoru and Hikaru's table.

_Oh_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, I've just posted all the chapters that I have of this fic so far. If you've read this far, thanks a whole lot and hope you have a wonderful day/night. Hopefully, I'll post a new chapter soon!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy! I'm pretty new to posting on AO3 so give me a heads up if anything is ever wonky, please.


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